Prime minister Rishi Sunak has delivered a speech outlining his top five priorities for 2023.
The priorities include halving inflation, economy growing, debt falling, waiting lists and small boats.
1. Inflation
Mr Sunak said that the Government will “halve inflation this year to ease the cost of living and give people financial security”.
The Prime Minister, told reporters that the halving of inflation, currently at 10.7% according to the Consumer Prices Index, would be part of a “path to restoring inflation back to where it belongs, which is the 2% inflation target that we set the Bank of England”.
Hopes had already growing that the worst inflation has now passed, with rates forecasted to ease back sharply throughout 2023.
2. Growing the economy
Mr Sunak has promised to “grow the economy, creating better-paid jobs and opportunity right across the country”.
Mr Sunak re-iterated Boris Johnson’s levelling-up promise of growing the economy, with better paid jobs across the UK, saying he would deliver “greater investment in local areas, to boost growth, create jobs”.
The Office for Budget Responsibility has predicted that unemployment could rise by more than 500,000 in 2023 and it also expects the economy to contract by 1.4%.
3. National debt falling
In his speech, the Prime Minister said “we will make sure our national debt is falling so that we can secure the future of public services”.
A pledge that echoes the promises made by the Chancellor before Christmas, Mr Sunak admitted “we already have got plans in place to make sure that debt does fall in the medium term”.
“The key is sticking to those and making sure that we have the discipline to do so because that’s not always easy, but it’s the right thing to do to secure the future of public services and indeed to combat inflation.”
4. Falling NHS waiting lists
The NHS waiting list has risen to a record seven million in the wake of the pandemic with more than 410,000 people waiting over a year for treatment – up from just over 1,500 before the pandemic. The Prime Minister promised that “NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly”.
“Covid has imposed massive new pressures and people are waiting too long for the care they need, we’re fixing that, but we need to do more.”
5. Illegal migration
More than 45,000 people crossed the Channel in small boats last year, up from just over 1,800 in 2019.
“We will pass new laws to stop small boats, making sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed,” said the Prime Minister.
Full details on how each priority is to be achieved have not yet been released with a promise that the finer details will be shared “in the coming months”.
Mr Sunak concluded: “I want people to feel something that they do not always feel today: a belief that public services work for them; a knowledge that if you work hard in the good times, the state will be there for you during the bad; a hope that the world will be better for their children than it was for them; a sense of belonging in the place they call home.
“I guarantee that your priorities will be my priorities. I pledge that I will be honest about the challenges we face. And I will take the tough but necessary decisions to ensure our great country achieves its enormous potential.
‘I will only promise what I can deliver. And I will deliver what I promise.”
