Last Wednesday marked one year of Rishi Sunak as our Prime Minister.
One of the privileges of being a Cabinet Office Minister is that one is at the centre of Government – both politically and geographically (the Cabinet Office adjoins No.10!). As a result I work closely with Rishi and I believe he is making a hugely positive contribution as Prime Minister.
He is doing so against an incredibly difficult global background: we continue to face the long shadow of the Covid recovery, dreadful events in the Middle East and in our own continent with Putin’s appalling onslaught on Ukraine continuing.
Against this background the Government is focussed on taking the right long term decisions. I believe his five priorities have huge resonance – we must: half inflation; grow the economy; reduce national debt; cut NHS waiting lists; and stop the boats. These are core issues on which the British people want results.
The rate of inflation is falling and we now know our economy recovered quicker from Covid than the likes of France and Germany. With an extra 3.9m people in work than 2010, employment rates in the UK continue to be much higher than most of our global peers. To support this further free childcare is being expanded to cut costs for families and support families into work.
Last December, the Government announced five new steps to help “stop the boats”. Since these measures were introduced, small boat arrivals to the UK are down by over 20 per cent and last week 50 hotels previously housing asylum cases were able to be returned to their usual commercial use.
Earlier in the year the Prime Minister announced the breakthrough Windsor Framework agreement with the EU which delivered a huge improvement to the post-Brexit status of Northern Ireland.
I am delighted we have Rishi as Prime Minister and I hope most readers agree! Either way they are welcome to make their views known to me direct: I am holding a Q&A session in Horsham this Friday (3rd November) County Times columnist Blaise Tapp will put me through my paces and take questions from the audience. To join us please book a seat via my website www.jeremyquin.com.