In power since succeeding Liz Truss’ brief administration at the end of October, Sunak, the first head of government to emerge from an ethnic minority in the UK, has laid out “five foundations on which to build a better future for our children and grandchildren ”.
“First, we will halve inflation this year” to ease the skyrocketing cost-of-living crisis “and give people financial security” and “we will grow the economy, creating better-paying jobs and opportunities across the country”. “said Sunak, during his first speech of the year.
The new head of government, who was former prime minister Boris Johnson’s finance minister, with whom he shares the defense of Brexit (the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union), has also promised to reduce the cumbersome debt of the The country, which has not stopped rising since mid-2021 driven by inflation close to 11%, reported the AFP news agency.
Sunak also faced conflict with the public health system (NHS), at a time when the country is rocked by strikes by health workers and the opposition Labor Party leads the polls two years before the next legislative elections.
Along these lines, it has promised to reduce long waiting lists in the NHS.
Finally, the British prime minister reiterated his determination to pass “new laws to stop precarious boats” carrying irregular migrants, and to ensure that “those arriving illegally are swiftly arrested and deported,” the BBC reported.
A record number of more than 45,000 migrants arrived on the south coast of England by boat from France in 2022, when the capsizing of one of these boats left at least four dead.
The previous year, 27 migrants lost their lives when the dinghy in which they were crossing the Channel sank.
“These are the priorities of the people” and “the priorities of the government”, said Sunak, promising to act “without tricks and without ambiguity” to “rebuild confidence in politics”.
“I ask you to judge us by the effort we make and the results we get,” he said, addressing some Britons who watched five Conservative prime ministers parade down Downing Street since the 2016 Brexit referendum.
