Rishi Sunak finishes his speech by saying: "We will give the country what it so sorely needs, and yet too often has been denied: A government prepared to make long term decisions so that we can build a brighter future—for everyone.

"Be in no doubt: it is time for a change. And we are it. Thank you."

Applause erupts in the hall.

Sunak holds his wife's hand as music plays. The couple walk off stage to cheers and claps from the Tory faithful. After delivering his first speech to conference as PM, Sunak shakes hands with Conservative members in the audience to further cheers.

Image source, PA Media

Rishi Sunak's closest cabinet ministers have been following his speech from the front row.

Therese Coffey, Gillian Keegan, Mark Harper, Steve Barclay, Michael Gove and Greg Hands have all been spotted - take a look:

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Here's more detail on the newly-announced Advanced British Standard, which will combine A-Levels and T-Levels.

All students will sit it, he says. And all will study some form of English and maths to 18.

In total, he says students will spend at least 195 hours more with a teacher.

And he says students will "typically" study five subjects, rather than three, as is normal for A-Levels.

As a reminder, education policy is devolved in the UK, meaning the announcement is for England only - although other parts of the UK could follow.

Education more generally is the "closest thing we have to a silver bullet", Sunak says, and will be a key focus - along with transport infrastructure and protecting the NHS.

The PM recognises that the country has "mountains to overcome still".

Image source, EPA

Sunak now announces a new bonus scheme for some new teachers.

He says teachers of "key subjects" in schools and further education colleges will "receive special bonuses of up to £30,000 tax free over the first five years of their career".

Sunak announces a new qualification called the "Advanced British Standard", which, he says, will "bring together A-levels and T-levels into a new, single qualification for our school leavers".

"This will finally deliver on the promise of parity of esteem between academic and technical education.

"Because all students will sit the Advanced British Standard," he says. Education is devolved, so it'll mean all students in England only.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan was seen wiping away tears as Rishi Sunak spoke of his personal experience as being the first British-Asian PM.

"I'm proud to be the first British-Asian prime minister, but you know what, I'm even prouder it's just not a big deal," he says.

Turning to education, Sunak says Labour pursued the false dream of 50% of pupils going to university and abandoned apprenticeships. He calls it one of the greatest mistakes in the last 30 years.

Under us there will be no more "rip-off degrees" which make no difference to young people's life chances, the PM says.

As is customary in conference speeches, Rishi Sunak has been cracking some jokes.

One which took aim at Nicola Sturgeon went down particularly well with the audience, as their reaction below shows.

The prime minister says the UK is "the most successful multi-ethnic democracy on earth".

His comments come after the Home Secretary Suella Braverman said multiculturalism had "failed" in a controversial speech in the US - before saying at conference that her comments were "somewhat mischaracterised".

Rishi Sunak turns to family - while his wife Akshata Murty listens from the audience.

"Family matters, and as proud Conservatives we should never be afraid to say that," he says.

After announcing his plans for jail sentences, Sunak turns his attention to gender.

"We shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be - they can’t," he says.

"A man is a man and a woman is a woman. That’s just common sense."

The government will try to pass a new law for "sexual and sadistic murders to carry a full-life term, with no prospect of release", Sunak tells the conference.

"We are going to change this country and that means 'life means life'. That shouldn’t be a controversial position," he says.

With his sights still trained on illegal immigration, Sunak says small boat crossings are for the first time down 20% this year, to applause.

The PM says that while "we are by no means where we want to be", once flights start going to Rwanda he is "confident" the boats will stop.

"But know this, I will do whatever is necessary to stop the boats," he tells the conference.

Stopping the boats is one of the prime minister's five priorities - we've looked into how he's getting on with them here.

As a reminder, the plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda is currently going through the courts.

It has been ruled unlawful by the Court of Appeal, and is due at the Supreme Court later this year.

This is what the PM is seeing as he addresses the packed hall at conference in Manchester.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Alongside the smoking changes, Sunak also wants to clamp down "on one of the most worrying trends...vaping among children".

"We’ll also bring forward measures to restrict the availability of vapes to our children," he tells the conference. "Looking at flavours, packaging, displays and disposable vapes."

Sunak tells the room that one in five children have used vapes. "That is shocking and wrong. And we must act before it becomes endemic," he says.

Sunak says this isn't a values judgement on people who smoke, and he says it wouldn't be fair to take away rights of anyone to smoke who already does.

He says he will not force Conservative MPs to vote for his changes to the smoking laws.

"The vote on this in parliament will be a free vote, as the ban on smoking in public places was and raising the smoking age to 18 was," he says.

"There will be no government whip. It is a matter of conscience."

More now from Sunak on his proposal to change the legal age to buy cigarettes.

"When we raised the smoking age to 18, smoking prevalence dropped by 30% in that age group," he says.

"When the United States raised the age to 21, the smoking rate dropped by 39% in that age group.

"Smoking places huge pressures on the NHS and costs our country £17bn a year.

"We have a chance to cut cancer deaths by a quarter, significantly ease those pressures and protect our children, and we should take it."

Sunak has just proposed "that in future we raise the smoking age by one year, every year - that means a 14- year-old today will never be legally sold a cigarette".

On NHS staffing, Sunak says for decades not enough doctors and nurses have been trained.

"I am ending that with the first ever long-term workforce plan for our health service," he says.

For the last 75 years, he says no government has planned for how many doctors and nurses the NHS would need in the decades to come.

His plan will double student medics but also reform workflows of the NHS, he says.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay is listening closely to Rishi Sunak as the PM moves on the health matters and criticises the upcoming doctors' strikes as "not the spirit of the NHS".

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent, reporting from the Conservative conference

It is striking that Rishi Sunak twice namechecked Andy Street, the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, while announcing the cancellation of HS2’s northern leg.

Street is furious at the decision. Some in government fear he may be on the brink of resignation.

So when Sunak said from the lectern how much he admires and respects Street, and how much he wants them to continue to work together on the issue, there’s a subtext.

He’s saying to Street: please, stay with me and don’t do anything rash.