Rishi Sunak has signalled he will struggle to achieve two of his five priorities: to halve inflation by the end of the year and to reduce NHS waiting lists in England, which he blamed on striking workers.
In his final interview before heading to California with his family for their first holiday in four years, the prime minister urged voters to trust him with the economy, as he admitted inflation was not falling as fast as he would like.
Yet when he was confronted by a constituent during the LBC radio phone-in with the fact that four independent businesses in his constituency of Richmond, North Yorkshire, were forced shut their doors last week, he insisted “business is good”, despite admitting in the same breath that some businesses were struggling because of inflation.
Weeks after health service bosses privately told ministers that the NHS pledge will be impossible to meet if strikes disrupt care beyond the summer, Sunak argued junior doctors and consultants were to blame for not accepting pay deals.
In a conversation with junior A&E doctor who gave her name as Liv, he said: “That’s what’s causing the waiting lists to go up, I don’t think that’s right.
“I would say to them I’m very grateful and respectful of the incredible job you do, but we all have a shared mission to bring the waiting lists down.”
But Liv responded: “I think it’s amazing we’re blaming the increase in waiting lists on doctors going on strike. You’re losing staff because we are undervalued and it’s not just doctors, it’s everyone, we’re all leaving. A happy workforce is your responsibility.”
With the Bank of England announcing whether interest rates will be raised again on Thursday, the prime minister repeatedly stressed that halving inflation was his most important priority as it would be “transformative for how people feel about their situation”.
“I know families are struggling with the cost of living and that’s why I set it out as my first priority to halve inflation, and we’re making progress,” he said on Nick Ferrari’s LBC show.
“Is that as fast as I’d like? No. Is it as fast as anyone would like? No. But the numbers most recently that we had show that we’re heading in the right direction, inflation is coming down, and I think people can see light at the end of the tunnel.
“We’ve got to stick to the plan, it’s not easy to bring down inflation. It requires me to make difficult but responsible decisions on behalf of the country.”
When challenged by a constituent who said “your Tory policies are causing small businesses to shut up shop”, adding that the impact of Brexit and the difficulty in finding staff had left people without a disposable income, Sunak said that, when he spoke to breweries at a London beer festival, “many of them were telling me that actually business is good, that footfall is up, that they’re seeing confidence return”.
After Conservative MPs privately raised concerns about the perception that Sunak was watering down Britain’s net zero commitments, the prime minister said: “‘I care about net zero, I’ve got two daughters, I care about leaving the climate in a better state than I found it in, but we’re gonna do that in a pragmatic way.”
He also backed his decision to grant hundreds of oil and gas licences in the North Sea, insisting “we will still need fossil fuels so it’s better to have them from here at home … than being less reliant on Vladimir Putin.”
After health and safety officials prompted a further delay to the use of the Bibby Stockholm barge to house asylum seekers, Sunak dismissed suggestions that the plan was a “shambles”.
“The Bibby Stockholm will be in operation as soon as it’s passed all the checks and regulations – as soon as possible – that’s the key thing,” Sunak said. He added that there was “an array of people that want me to fail”, which he said included Labour, criminal gangs and “dodgy lawyers”.
