‘I am a Prime Minister for the North’ vows defiant Rishi Sunak as he admits Conservatives have to keep Red Wall seats to retain power at the next election
- The PM refused to commit to a dedicated Cabinet minister for the North
Rishi Sunak has vowed to champion the North after saying the Conservatives’ path to retaining power ‘runs through’ the region.
Mr Sunak – who is the MP for Richmond in Yorkshire – said he is a ‘Prime Minister for the North’ and stressed the Tories could not win without the Red Wall seats first won by Boris Johnson in 2019.
The Prime Minister was speaking at the Northern Research Group (NRG) conference in Doncaster to dozens of MPs and activists – some of whom have voiced concerns about holding on to their seats under the current trajectory.
But he stopped short of committing to a dedicated Cabinet minister for the North, which the group has previously requested.
Mr Sunak said: ‘We need to grow the economy and I want the North to be at the heart of our economic growth. ‘Our majority runs through the North and that there is no route to electoral success without it.
Mr Sunak – who is the MP for Richmond in Yorkshire – said he is a ‘Prime Minister for the North’ and stressed the Tories could not win without the Red Wall seats first won by Boris Johnson in 2019
‘Some of you are saying we should have a minister for the North… I am a Prime Minister for the North.’
Citing his record as Chancellor and commitment to invest billions in rail in the North of England, he said his government believed in a ‘fair deal’ for the region.
Accusing Labour of only standing up for the major cities, he said he wants his Tory party ‘to stand for every part of the North for the towns and the villages, as well as the great urban centres’.
‘I know that many voters here lent us their vote,’ he added. ‘They decided that after generations of being let down by Labour, they deserved something better.
And they were right. And we must show them that we are worthy of their trust and support by delivering for them.’
He also vowed to continue devolving decision making away from Westminster by building on the success of the Treasury’s Darlington Economic Campus, which opened in 2021.
‘We know that the person in Whitehall doesn’t know best,’ he said. ‘Our manifesto will reaffirm that we are the party with the energy and the ideas to change Britain.’
Recent polling in the Red Wall suggests the Tories are trailing Labour by 23 points and could lose a majority of the seats won at the last election.
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