In his first major address as prime minister Rishi Sunak declared that the UK was in “economic crisis”, confronting head on the criticisms levelled at predecessor Liz Truss.
Earlier today Truss met the King at Buckingham Palace to tender her resignation. Sunak then visited the King shortly after to be asked to form a government, before arriving in Downing Street to speak. In a carefully-worded statement, Sunak navigated the political quagmire caused by Truss’s mini-Budget last month, which eventually led her government to collapse.
“She was not wrong to want to improve growth in this country,” Sunak said.
“It is a noble aim. And I admire her restlessness to create change. But some mistakes were made. Not borne of ill-will or bad intentions. Quite the opposite, in fact. But mistakes nonetheless. And I have been elected as leader of my party in part to fix them. And that work begins immediately.”
Addressing specifically the accusation he might not have a clear enough mandate to govern either from the country or indeed his own Party, Sunak claimed the victory achieved by Boris Johnson at the 2019 election was not the property of a single individual.
“I know he would agree that the mandate my party earned in 2019 is not the sole property of any one individual,” Sunak said.
“It is a mandate that unites every one of us. At the heart of that mandate is a manifesto. I will deliver on its promise.” He added that he “treasured” Johnson’s “warmth and generosity of spirit.”
For his part, Johnson responded with a well-time tweet, saying “congratulations to Rishi Sunak on this historic day. This is the moment for every Conservative to give our new PM their full and wholehearted support.”
UK equity markets, now watched keenly by political observers as a litmus test for economic confidence in the UK, are still down after opening lower this morning.
The FTSE 100 opened just about the 7,000 market at 7,013 but is now trading down 0.76% at 6,960. UK gilt yields, only recently the sight of genuine concern among pension fund managers, asset managers and traders, have also fallen, though only slightly.
Clearly aiming his final remarks at both voters and markets, Sunak said he was not daunted by the challenge of restoring confidence in UK politics.
“I understand that I have work to do to restore trust after all that has happened. All I can say is that I’m not daunted,” he said.
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