Britain’s Sunak vows to halve inflation, tackle illegal migration in first major speech of the year

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in his first major speech of 2023 on Wednesday, pledged to halve inflation, grow the UK economy and stop illegal immigration.

In a speech setting out the Conservative government’s priorities for the year ahead, Sunak focused on tackling the UK’s slowing economy and made promises to reduce national debt. He also vowed to pass new laws to stop migrants from arriving on UK shores in small boats, as well as cut massive backlogs in Britain’s public health service.

“Those are the people’s priorities. They are your government’s priorities. And we will either have achieved them or not,” Sunak said. “No trick, no ambiguity, we’re either delivering for you or we’re not. We will rebuild trust in politics through action, or not at all,” he added.

Sunak, who came to office in October after a tumultuous year in UK politics that saw the resignation of two other prime ministers, stressed that he would deliver stability. He said his first priority was to “halve inflation this year to ease the cost of living and give people financial security”.

Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, unveiled a disastrous package of unfunded tax cuts in September and was forced to quit after less than two months in the job. Her policies sent the British pound tumbling, drove up the cost of borrowing and triggered emergency intervention from Britain’s central bank.

Since Sunak replaced Truss in late October, the UK economy has calmed but he still faced a cost-of-living crisis and widening labour unrest as key public sector workers from nurses and ambulance drivers to train workers stage disruptive strikes to demand better pay to keep pace with soaring inflation.