Sunak says work ‘begins immediately to fix Truss’s ‘mistakes’

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Rishi Sunak said “work begins immediately” to “fix” the cost of living crisis engulfing Britain as he addressed the nation his first speech as Prime Minister.

The new Conservative leader warned “our country is facing a profound economic crisis” as he accused his predecessor of having made “some mistakes”.

He said Ms Truss was “not wrong” to want to deliver economic growth but that she had moved too quickly.

“I want to pay tribute to my predecessor Liz Truss, she was not wrong to want to improve growth in this country. It is a noble aim,” he said.

“I admired 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, and your Prime Minister, in part, to fix them. And that work begins immediately.

“I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government’s agenda. This will mean difficult decisions to come.

“But you saw me during Covid, doing everything I could, to protect people and businesses, with schemes like furlough.

“There are always limits, more so now than ever, but I promise you this I will bring that same compassion to the challenges we face today.”

The new Prime Minister enters No10 just 49 days after Tory members rejected his bid to take on the top job. The party’s grassroots put their faith in Liz Truss’s vision for a low tax economy and many also blamed him for the downfall of Boris Johnson.

He was appointed as Conservative leader yesterday in a fast-tracked process.

The former Chancellor was the only candidate to receive enough support from MPs to formally put his name forward for the top job.

Making reference to his previous rejection from Tory members, Mr Sunak said outside No10: “When the opportunity to serve comes along you cannot question the moment, only your willingness.

“I stand here before you ready to lead our country into the future, to put your needs above politics, to reach out and build a government that represents the very best traditions of my party. Together we can achieve incredible things.”

As Ms Truss left No10 for the final time earlier today, she appeared to take a veiled swipe at her successor, warning him not to abandon her vision for Britain.

“From my time as Prime Minister I’m more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the challenges we face,” she said.

“We simply cannot afford to be a low-growth country where the Government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth and where there are huge divides between different parts of our country. We need to take advantage of our Brexit freedoms to do things differently.”

She said that she wished Mr Sunak “every success, for the good of our country” but urged him to promote “lower taxes, so people keep more of the money they earn”.

More to follow…

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