Sunak sets out five key priorities in speech

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.

Full details on how each priority is to be achieved have not been released. These are set to be shared "in the coming months".

The first priority is halving inflation to ease the cost of living and give people financial security and the second is growing the economy and creating better-paid jobs and opportunity across the country. In order to grow the economy, innovation must be "at the heart of everything we do". Sunak said the government is increasing public funding in R&D to £20bn, "seizing the opportunities of Brexit", making sure entrepreneurial and fast-growing companies get the finance they need to expand and spreading a culture of creative thinking and doing things differently across every part of the UK.

Sunak's third priority is to make sure national debt is falling in order to secure the future of public services.

The fourth priority is to reduce NHS waiting lists, so people can get the care they need more quickly. Sunak said: "But 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."

Sunak's final priority is to "stop the boats", saying; "Fifth, 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." Sunak claimed that since he became prime minister, progress has been made including setting out "a concrete plan to stop the boats and tackle the unfairness of illegal migration".

Sunak finished his speech by saying: "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."

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