Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Reveals Plans For Vaping & The NHS | This Morning

[Music] we are now joined by prime minister Rishi sunak who made a return to our this morning sopa it's good to have you back it's good to be back it's good to be back thanks for having me thank you for being here obviously we saw you at the Conservative Party Conference um but for me it was your biggest hype team that I was interested uh a shart was absolutely incredible she did a s minute speech I mean we can have a quick look at it because I think it's absolutely amazing have a look at this the reason why I'm here is really quite simple and it's because rishy and I are each other's best friends we're one team there's been a lot about rishy in the media now some of it is accurate I'm afraid he does love a good romcom and some of it is not so true so you'll be relieved to hear that episodes of Emily in Paris are not informing his outlook on the EU and I hope you also know how proud you make our girls and me every single day I mean how lovely is that and first of all did you even know in advance that she was going to do something like that no so it was Kept Secret for me until very late on so I only knew really very late on that she was doing anything and the first time I heard her was when I was standing behind stage waiting to come on how did you feel before were you crying what how was you feeling well yeah it was it was very lovely but it was also just it was a big day for me I was making a big speech I was making these three big announcements on hs2 and smoking and changing our education system so you know big moment for me to have her there to support me and watch nice really nice before I went on how much this she smashing it out there I was like good I just call it a day now exactly no but it was lovely it was lovely to have her there and what was I was doing some big things for the country and to have her there and give me a boost was lovely well let's talk about smoking and vaping because I think this um idea to stop 14 year olds ever buying cigarettes is such a fantastic idea but on the other hand you know when you go into shops now you're seeing constantly all these beautiful colors different flavors the Vapes children are trying it um you know a lot of peer pressure in schools and things like that is there anything that you can do to even like eradicate these Vapes especially those single use ones can you we just eradicate can we not put that in involved in the tobacco situation we've got to get on top of this vaping would you agree yeah completely and I think we talked about this when I was last here actually I have two girls who are 10 and 12 you talk to any parent right now any teacher at a school and they will tell you how concerned they are about vaping and the last numbers we had showed that one in five teenagers tried vaping earlier this year and we've got to do something about it before it gets far worse and so we're going to bring forward a range of measures looking at all the things you just mentioned Allison you're right cuz when you go into a shop we don't treat Vapes like cigarettes there's lots of colorful advertising around it they're right at the front of the counter exposed me adults are enticed to want to buy them you can imagine how children are enticed right there's a range so the range of things we're going to look at so it's how they're marketed the packaging where they're displayed and flavors all these types of things and disposable Vapes as you said all of those are the things that we're going to look at and we need to find a way to stop our kids vaping whilst at the same time making sure that they are available for adults who are switching away from smoking cuz for someone who's a smoker today Vapes are definitely better for them we want to make sure we preserve that but we can't have our kids take up vaping and we need to be quite strict on that and that's what we're going to do should that have been the priority do you think over cigarettes and what what struck me when you were talking was it's quite an inherently unconservative thing to do is tell people how they should be living their life look we know that to cost the NHS 2.5 billion pounds a year we know we know that we know that smoking is a bad thing but I don't I mean that's quite a risk for you to do that in a party that's traditionally small state doesn't like to tell people how to live their lives you're worried about that back Clash so we're doing both we're going to tackle vaping and we're bring those measures forward in a couple of weeks time so you'll see that but when it came to smoking you're right look it was a big decision uh it was a big decision for me to take but I think it's the right one for the country and that's what I'm about as prime minister I want to change things I want to do things differently and ultimately do what I believe is right in the long term you have to sit down when you make those decisions with your team and know that it's not because there certain decisions aren't going to be popular in your own party yep I do we have that conversation and ex Che it I mean you make 10.4 we make 10 billion pounds out the tobacco industry yeah I mean it costs our country 17 billion pounds so the cost of society is is enormous and you're right we had those conversations and I talked about that in my speech I know not everyone's going to agree with me on this and it wasn't you know it wasn't the easiest of decisions but I think it's the right one because it comes down to this you know smoking is different to everything else that we have different to alcohol yeah it is because there's no there's no safe level of smoking it's just different to everything else there's no safe level of smoking and it's highly addictive it's a single leading preventable cause of death disease illness and our society and if you think about this I thought about as a parent I think any parent even parents who smoke if you ask them do you want your kids to grow up to smoke obviously not is the answer and I had we' all been touched by we've all been touched by we all know it's one in one in four cancer deaths caused by smoking and I had a chance as prime minister to do something about that and so even if it's difficult even if people are you know not all going to agree I thought it was the right thing to do I'm looking at your speech and I'm thinking I get it but then like we're going to be a situation where a 34 yearold living with a 35-year-old 34 year- old is not allowed to smoke 35y old is allowed to smoke so the 34 year old just asked a 35y old for cigarette we going to be in that situation when you were 16 you were trying to get the kids the 18y old kids to go into the off license to get your food I mean so of so are you thinking by that point Society will be so exactly transformed smok exactly we want a whole generation to grow up without smoking and I think it will transform societ and we know this has worked because when we've done it in the past when we took the smoking age up from 16 to 18 when the US took their smoking age up from 18 to 21 it made a big difference you see smoking rates come way down and I think if you have a whole generation who are growing up without being able to have bought cigarettes it will just change how we think about this and hopefully do something incredibly good for the country for those people but also for the NHS for whom One hospital admission every minute you know that's the pressure that it puts on the NHS and we have a chance to do something all of that and I wanted to take it what's amazing with tobacco is we know the effects of what it does we don't know the effects of vaping we don't know the long-term effects and we are actually going to be launching a campaign here at this morning in January uh to kind of help young children not turns of act and we want you to lend your support are you up for it definitely you promise yeah definitely I'm going to hold you to that you can hold me when you say that to Alison that's a blood o right seriously made a blood because I think it's important though because like honly um when you go into these shops honestly they're making an absolute Fortune I really want you to crack down on the people who are selling them as well so that you know that's one of the things that we are going to do as well because if what we need to do is crack down on these retailers who are selling them to kids and they shouldn't be that's a legal today and one of the things we're looking at is how can we give local authorities trading standards more powers to crack down on people who are illegally selling Vapes to kids but look you are absolutely right I said I speak first and foremost as a parent or two young girls who 10 and you talk to any parent Any teacher they will tell you we need to do something about this and I think we all know the issues with packaging and flavors we're going to do something about it I'll come back and talk to you about it let move on we haven't got an awful lot of time get Lo hs2 uh I know you it's probably like the the the thing's been ringing in your brain all week the northern section of hs2 connecting Birmingham to Manchester has been counseled um what message does this send to the north of England I mean you've got your you know Lee Anderson mocking Bradford you voted in favor of this twice what's changed in your head so look what's changed is a lot of things right the cost of this thing has doubled from when it was first green lit it's now going to cost over 100 billion pounds we've had a pandemic which has totally changed how everyone travels which damages the the case for it and it's going to take far longer to deliver than anyone thought so as a new prime minister I came in and I wanted to look at this properly because it's a lot of money 36 billion pound of your viewers money taxpayers money and I thought is this the right way to spend that money and I came to the conclusion it wasn't do you think it's just just the ads the sums just wouldn't add up for you yeah I I just I think it's a better way to spend everyone's money is on the different forms of Transport so we're going to spend every penny that we would have spent on hs2 every penny of it we're going to spend across the country in the Midlands in the north hundreds of other projects and more on the types of transport that the people use every day improving roads local rail buses the bus fairs are going to stay capped at2 because of this decision that I've made yeah that's the most popular form of public transportation so that was a decision I made it's not easy one and as you can see I've got lots of criticism from it again from people in my own party but my job is to do what I think is right for the country in the long term even if that's tricky and that's what I'm about and that's what this decision is about it's about is it a financial decision is that when you sat down and certainly there chance who looked at the sums and that you must have had an idea then where it's not Financial in the sense because we're going to spend every penny that we would have spent on HS 2 we're going to still spend well opposition parties are saying those plans are in place anyway no that's definitely not right and I know cuz I'm in here so we're going to take every money that we would have spent and would have spend on hundreds of other local projects across the country and right now we're talking to councils everywhere about the extra money they're going to get the types of projects they can fund that are going to make a difference to way more people far quicker on the types of transport they use but even you said for people in Manchester remember hs2 trains are still going to run to Manchester the journey time from Manchester to London is still going to be cut by 30 minutes so we're going to get that all one thing we've got is the one thing we didn't need which was a high speeded rail link between London and Birmingham do that's not even guaranteed to end in central London and I'm not putting that all on you but it just says that we we can't do big projects in the UK well don't we are by building that first line the entire Journey time from Manchester to London is going to get cut by half an hour it doesn't just benefit people living in the West Midlands even people living in Manchester are going to get a faster train time to London but my point is look I don't think that's the right priority so now I've got a choice about how do we spend 36 billion pounds over the next several years I think it's better to spend it on hundreds of other projects in every part of our country that people are going to use more often and get that benefit quicker look I know that's not an easy thing but I 100% believe it's the right remember there's people out there who sold their land sold uh generational um Farms that that they sold on and if they had known that it was never going to be built they probably would never have sold it on to you and you know people who have lost their houses had to move out what would you say to to those people there who have lost a lot yeah I know there's been an enormous amount of disruption for people now look some people who have sold will have a chance to buy back that will all now start happening those processes so there'll be many people who will be able to do that but I I have to look to the Future and I think the the worst thing I could have done is say look there's a decision that I can make that I know is right for the future but I'm not going to do it because people will be upset or because we've already set you know we've already started off on the wrong track I guess you get a moment where you you either double down or you exactly and look I I didn't want to just double down on something that I believe to be wrong and that's fundamentally what this is about like I'm I'm in this job to do what I think is right in the long term right even if it's not easy in the short term and I know that our kids and our grandkids are going to have more jobs more opportunity it's going to be easier for families to get around our econom is going to be better off people in every part of our country are going to benefit because we're going to take that money and do hundreds of other things with it I just think that's the right thing to do and I know it's not easy but that's when I talked in my speech I talked about wanting to bring change to the country do things differently whether it's on smoking and vaping whether it's on hs2 whether it's on changing our education system whether it was on Net Zero where I charted a new course that's going to save people five 10 got a couple minutes those are all examples of me trying to do things different in this job to change the country for the better even if it's not easy I'm ask you this is not going to be easy obviously the doctors they want 35% with all the strain with strikes and things like that why don't we just give them the 35% between you and me come on because you know what we we can't afford it and it wouldn't be right and it wouldn't be fair every like everyone's so tired they just want compromise now they want everyone to sit around and actually talk it out you know I know it's frustrating and I I'll say this and everyone can make up their mind every other part of the public sector has found an agreement with the government nurses Hospital pters a million other NHS know how important Junior doctors are well so where our nurses are really the engineer room right so surely they wor sat sat down I think we have a process where we have independent bodies that recommend to government how much everyone should get their pay increased by we we accepted it in full for the junior doctors you know what the pay rise was it was 9% and we cut their taxes on their pensions a little while ago as well we accepted that everyone else in the public sector including nurses has accepted it and they're working so look all I'd say is I think the government has been reasonable it's accepted independent recommendations for a massive rise 9% bigger than everybody else and I think at that point the government's done the reasonable thing on behalf of the taxpayers as well we' got to get inflation down I don't want to put your taxes up don't to put your viewers taxes up I think it's reasonable that you know the industrial action should come to a close given that we've done the right thing now look if we if we'd said no and rejected those recommendations if we'd given them a pay rise that just was lower than what was told then fair enough but we haven't we've done what we were we've got one of our staff members actually whose father a year ago needed a triple bypass and he needed quite urgently within 12 weeks his heart was functioning on 27% uh they then got that operation over a year later I mean what would you say to her who's watching this now and loads of other people who have been through that yeah look I I know it's frustrating and that's why one of my five priorities is to bring waiting list down and when you know we were making very good progress and we've improved performance in A&E and ambulance waiting times we've put record money into the NHS I care deeply about it I come from an NHS family my dad was a doctor my mom was a pharmacist and so I believe I'm doing the right thing weeks after I became prime minister we put record money in I came when I was last on this show we were talking about how people can now choose on their NHS app where to get treatment because that will speed things up this winter you'll be able to go to your pharmacist to get medicines for sore throats and ear infections rather than seeing your GP that's going to help people get treatment quicker and as prime minister I did another thing that you talked about longterm I I decided to have a long-term plan to train enough doctors and nurses here at home so we're putting more money in we're going to double the number of doctors and nurses we train I'm not going to be around to see the benefits of that it takes 15 years to train a consultant but I thought that was the right thing to do for the country no one else has done that in my job no one else has said let's put more money in now to train doctors and nurses so we have them for the future I've done that CU again it's a right long-term thing for the country before we let you go we want to talk about immigration and multiculturalism um because this is something that me and Allison care both about but both children of immigrants as are you so when you hear your Home Secretary talk about the hurricane of mass migration are you not embarrassed and ashamed when you hear words like that because you know me it's the first time I met you seem like a decent guy through user evidence the multiculturalism does work so like do do you not scratch your head when you hear things like that yeah I think that this this debate gets charged a lot with people focusing on things so if you just take a step back what do I think we all agree on we all agree that Britain is an incredibly welcoming place right we're all living proof of the fact that immigrants can come here can do well and that is something that we I think do better than any country in the world we definitely haven't failed in any way I would suggest no I think it's something we should be so proud of as Brits it's something we do better than anyone else but I think we also agree a couple of other things when people do come here they should integrate they should sign up to British values so we have those shared understanding amongst us that's really important the integration piece I think everyone agrees with that and I think we also all agree that it should be us who decides who comes here not criminal gangs illegal migration isn't right not least because people are being exploited and die when they make these Crossings but also because we're a compassionate country who wants to welcome people here we're not going to be able to do that if our system is overloaded with people who have jumped the queue and that's whyat you are you not mortified when hear words like Hurrican cuz it's think that's not destruction that's like upheaval it's not a good word to may be use I well I think look there is well I'm out and about and I think your your viewers probably feel there is enormous sense of frustration that there are tens of thousands of people who have come here illegally over the past few years and that's not right and I think most people in their local community may now have a hotel that's been put over to house illegal migrants that's costing taxpayers weaponizing the word that worries me making bring that to an end and that's why we need to stop the but it's weaponizing the word that worries me it's it's it's it's demonizing the people that come here in the first place that's that's like it's an issue of course it is but it's how it's the incendiary use of that word that I think most people find unhelpful and harmful because it's not the people who are coming his fault yeah they are being exploited by criminal gangs and that's why I've said it's got to be us it's got to be the British people who decides who come who decide who comes to our country and not criminal gangs they are exploiting vulnerable people many of them tragically die that's not right and and again puts unsustainable pressure on our system meaning we can't help the people we really want to now I I'm Unapologetic about the fact that I want to stop the boats we've passed new laws that will help us do that we're making progress and for everyone who cares about this issue I just want to let them know for the first time ever the numbers are down this year the number of people coming here illegally across the channel is down by a fifth because of all the different things I I'm doing and last yesterday I was at a European Summit signing new deals with European leaders to work together all of that is making a difference in Europe they've got this problem in this year the numbers in Europe are up but we've managed to get them down in the UK cuz I'm working hard at fixing this problem W turn wow quick five questions this is to show your kids how cool a dad you actually are okay ready Barbie or Oppenheimer oh I preferred oppenheim of the film but I loved going to Barbie because I went as a when did you get time to watch I had time to watch it it was long but we had a family outing to Barbie with my girls which I haven't done in that was great it's quick fire I'm a celebrity your big brother oh I grew up on uh I grew up on Big Brother but actually the Netflix Beckham documentary right now I've started watching that started is it I saved it for our conference it is invol absolutely brilliant re reliving my childhood is brilliant T Taylor Swift Britney Spears quick fire Taylor Swift unless I'm on my pelaton and my instructor there loves Britney Spears but otherwise Taylor Swift uh how would um what would be your favorite Halloween costume question oh gosh uh the first time Aur and I actually went to a party together it was a Halloween party when we were in the states uh she went as a girl guide and I went as Harry Potter and the big question we all want to know the one on everyone's lips are you watching bake off of course I'm watching Bake Off in all my and all my spare time oh thank you so much thank you thank you so very much thank you rishy and

Channel: This Morning

Views: 60,845

Keywords: this morning, this morning itv, holly willoughby, phillip schofield, this morning funniest moments, this morning interviews, alison hammond, itv

Id: frXem4CwWyI

Length: 19min 29sec (1169 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 06 2023