Rishi Sunak’s Bold Moves: HS2 Axed, Smoking Age Hiked, and Vaping Under Fire

HS2 Manchester Link Axed In a significant move, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has formally announced the cancellation of the planned HS2 rail link from Birmingham to Manchester. The decision was unveiled during his speech at the Conservative party conference. The government plans to invest the £36bn saved from HS2 in other transport projects across the country, including a number of road schemes. Sunak stated that the HS2 had overrun in costs and the plans as they stood no longer made economic sense. Raising Smoking Age In a bid to create a smoke-free generation, Sunak has proposed a policy to raise the legal age for buying cigarettes by one year every year. This means that a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette. This policy is similar to the one introduced by New Zealand last year. Clampdown on Vaping In addition to the smoking age policy, the government is also looking into measures to restrict the availability of vapes. They will be examining the packaging an