Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will make his first speech in 2023 today. The Conservative leader will set out his priorities for the year ahead, which will include plans for education.
His speech comes at a time of a cost of living crisis, multiple strike actions and huge pressures on the NHS. In his speech on Wednesday (January 4), the prime minister is expected to share his plans to ensure that all school pupils in England will study some form of maths to the age of 18 as an attempt to tackle "low numeracy rates".
During his speech, the prime minister will acknowledge that the reform of this scale "won't be easy", but will introduce it in this Parliament with the aim of completing it in the next one. In a statement published ahead of the speech, the UK Government added that it did not "envisage" making maths A-Level compulsory for all 16-year-olds.
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According to The Telegraph, Mr Sunak is also expected to expand on his vision for the UK, and will vow to tackle voter "apprehension" about the country's future. Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reports that he will also take "personal charge of tackling the NHS crisis".
Ahead of his first domestic speech of the year, the prime minister tweeted: "New Year is a time for optimism, but I know there's also a lot of apprehension. I am working night and day to change that, and quickly. In a speech tomorrow I will set out my priorities for the year ahead."
His speech is set to take place at 2pm today. In a statement published on Tuesday, Mr Sunak said that his plans for education were "personal" to him. He said: "Every opportunity I’ve had in life began with the education I was so fortunate to receive. And it’s the single most important reason why I came into politics: to give every child the highest possible standard of education.
"Thanks to the reforms we’ve introduced since 2010, and the hard work of so many excellent teachers, we’ve made incredible progress. With the right plan – the right commitment to excellence – I see no reason why we cannot rival the best education systems in the world".
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