Britain has become a better place to live under a Conservative government, Rishi Sunak has said.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the Prime Minister said: “It’s a better place to live than it was in 2010.”
He said he “wholeheartedly rejected” the “declinist narrative” of many commentators – and insisted he still expected to be in No 10 on Friday.
Mr Sunak said that although the last few years had been difficult, thanks to Covid and Ukraine, Britain was now on the right track.
“Of course I understand that the last few years have been difficult for everyone,” he said, adding: “Inflation is back to normal, the economy is growing again, wages rising, energy bills set to fall again just next week, and now we’re able to start cutting people’s taxes.”
When it was put to him that the county has become poorer by many measures since 2010 and public services are worse, Mr Sunak said: “I just don’t accept that.
“Thanks to the reforms of the Conservative government, our schoolchildren are now the best readers in the Western world.
“Nine out of 10 schools are good or outstanding – a huge improvement compared to what we inherited.
“Where Labour are in charge of education in Wales, you haven’t seen that improvement,”
Asked whether Britain had lost its standing in the world because of Brexit, the Prime Minister said: “That is completely and utterly wrong.”
He said Britain had signed the Hiroshima Accord with Japan last year “unequivocally stating that we are their closest ally in Europe”.
Mr Sunak added: “We’re building a new generation of nuclear submarines with Australia and America. It has never happened before that we have shared technology on that scale.
“People are queueing up to work with us because they respect what we do.
“So I just completely reject that. It’s entirely wrong. This sort of declinist narrative that people have of the UK I wholeheartedly reject.”
Mr Sunak said a vote for the Tories was a vote for lower taxes.
He told Laura Kuenssberg: “We will continue to cut taxes for people at every stage of their lives, giving them the financial security that they rightly want and deserve after what has been a difficult few years.
“None of those things are going to be made any easier by a Labour government that would whack up everyone’s taxes by thousands of pounds.”
He said the use of the “P-word” by a Reform UK canvasser in Clacton was “deeply inappropriate and racist”.
The Prime Minister said any politician expects a degree of criticism because it “comes with the territory”.
But he went on: “But in this instance, you know, what was said was deeply inappropriate and racist.”
Mr Sunak said he hated having to repeat the phrase used about him but thought it was important to call it out. He said that Britain is “the most successful multi-faith, multi-ethnic democracy anywhere in the world”, adding: “That’s why views like this are so damaging and so wrong.
“They belong to a minority of people and they deserve to be called out for what they are, and that’s what I did.”
The Prime Minister claimed he was “proud” of the Tory campaign, despite mistakes such as leaving a D-Day commemoration early and having senior party figures questioned over insider betting.
And asked whether he thinks he will still be PM on Friday, Mr Sunak said: “Yes, I’m fighting very hard, and I think people are waking up to the real danger of what a Labour government means.
“I don’t want people to surrender their pension, their finances, our borders, their security to a Labour government.”
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
