Rishi Sunak announced plans to ban the sale of cigarettes, scrapped A-levels and cancelled the second phase of HS2 on Wednesday as he unveiled a “radical” agenda aimed at winning the next election.

Giving his first conference speech as Conservative Party leader, Mr Sunak invoked Margaret Thatcher as he tried to rebrand himself as a force for change in British politics.

Mr Sunak railed against a “30-year political status quo” and declared “politics doesn’t work the way it should” in an implicit criticism of the last four Conservative prime ministers.

In what he described as “three huge decisions to change the direction of our country”, the Prime Minister announced a ban on cigarette sales that would be gradually implemented, with the legal age rising each year, and unveiled plans to replace A-levels and T-levels with a new qualification.

He also defied Tory critics and cancelled the Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2, using the £36 billion saving to fund other transport projects and repair potholes.