Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited Cambridge yesterday (18/06), declaring that the Conservatives will enter next month’s General Election as the sole party that will make it “crystal clear” that “sex means biological sex”, Cambridge Independent reports.

This comes as the Conservative Party has pledged to amend the Equality Act of 2010. They claim this will make it easier for services for women and girls, such as those for domestic abuse victims, to exclude biological males.

In October last year, Sunak controversially said “a man is a man. A woman is a woman. And that’s just common sense” in his closing speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.

Sunak spoke at Cambridge Rugby Club along with Conservative Parliamentary Candidates Lucy Frazer for Ely and East Cambridgeshire, and Chris Carter-Chapman for South Cambridgeshire constituencies respectively.

South Cambridgeshire District Council Conservative group leader, Cllr Heather Williams, was also present.

Rishi Sunak headed to Cambridge as part of his campaign journey on Monday. He also told a crowd of Conservative supporters that a secure future “starts with tax cuts” and described his party as the only one with a “clear plan” on migration, according to Cambridgeshire Live.

In response to questions following his speech, Sunak pledged to “gather all the views of local communities” regarding the East West Rail scheme. He also indicated that funds from the cancelled phase two of HS2 would be allocated to local transport initiatives, including “maintaining local roads, investing in fixing potholes or championing buses.”

Sunak said: “I want to invest more in local transport. That’s why I made the decision on HS2, so we can reinvest every penny that we would have spent on that on local transport across the country”.

In October 2023, Mr. Sunak declared during the Conservative Party conference that Phase two of HS2, which aimed to link London with the city centres of Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds, would be scrapped.

When asked about the closure of local businesses throughout Cambridgeshire, Sunak reaffirmed his commitment to supporting the local economy. He affirmed that the Tories are “cutting taxes on their business rates”, according to Cambs Times.

Despite the Prime Minister’s alleged commitment to investing in the high streets and continuing to lower business rates, Camb Times report having spoken to many Cambridge business who have previously cited high costs as the reason they have had to close.

This comes amid Rishi Sunak’s ongoing critique of the Labour party and its handling of issues. Sunak told the Tory crowd that if Labour were to win the election, it would be like handing Keir Starmer “a blank cheque to do whatever he wanted, put up everyone’s taxes completely unchecked, with no one to stand up to them”, Cambridgeshire Indepdendent reported.

His visit came 17 days before the UK is set to head to the polls. Recent polls show Labour well ahead of the Conservatives.

A Savanta poll for The Sunday Telegraph showed the Conservatives gaining a mere 21 percent of the vote. A Survation poll for Best for Britain, which was published by The Sunday Times, suggested the party would win 72 seats, and Labour would win 456.

This also comes as former Home Secretary for the Conservative Party, Suella Braverman, also visited Cambridge last month. The Tory MP paid a visit to Cambridge For Palestine’s (C4P) King’s Parade encampments on 16th May as she attempted to talk to activists and students about the protests.