LONDON – UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to reduce the national debt and cut inflation as he set out his priorities for the coming year against a backdrop of mounting strikes, a creaking National Health Service and dire poll ratings for his ruling Conservative Party.
“Those are the people’s priorities,” Mr Sunak said in a speech in east London on Wednesday. “They are your government’s priorities. And we will either have achieved them or not. No tricks, no ambiguity: we’re either delivering for you or we’re not.”disruption to the NHS The pledge for national debt to be falling in particular suggests Mr Sunak and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt plan a further round of fiscal tightening when they deliver the next budget in March. In his Autumn Statement in November, Mr Hunt promised debt would peak in 2025-26 before falling. But his new promise suggests he’ll have to begin bringing it down next year.
That’s exacerbated by the threat of more strikes over pay and conditions by nurses and ambulance workers later this month, after they also took action in December. Industrial action has also been paralysing Britain’s transport system this week, with a rail worker strike disrupting the return to the office after the Christmas break.