LONDON — Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of Great Britain, has plans for the new year. In a speech in early January, he posited an agenda to revive the country and save the Conservative Party, which is now in free fall. “We will halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists and stop boats,” he hummed.
You would be forgiven for hearing a note of despair. After all, Mr. Sunak took office with a mountain to climb. The cost of living crisis is just beginning: Wherever you turn, conflict seems to grow to meet you. To name but a few, yes health care crisisthe housing crisis (both ownership and lease), the education crisisthe childcare crisisthe traffic crisisthe climate crisis and, not least, the constitutional crisis threatened to end the alliance with Scotland. In the UK, recording what Not is on the verge of collapse.
Even a great statesman needs more than three months to solve such ingrained social evils. But the early signs are not good. Far from complete his promise To bring “stability and unity” to both the country and his party, the prime minister did the opposite. A new era may have begun, but it’s not going well.
Initially, Mr. Sunak did little to change his reputation as a cautious technocrat. economic plan, Released in November. Liz Truss’s prime ministerial position to such a tragic end was not a fatal blow to the national economy. But it just maintains a faulty system.
And the situation is dire. British households are in the middle biggest drop in standard of living since the 1950s, but Mr. Sunak doesn’t seem to know how to reverse it. The vague promises of inflation reduction have brought little real improvement to people’s living standards. Add a dubious attempt to convince recent retirees to return to work and to plan the deregulation of the City of London, some of which have abandonedand the general impression is of a leader who is both lost and weak.
It doesn’t help that Mr. Sunak started his term with blunders, not least the re-appointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary less than a week after she was fired for serious security breach. Ms. Braverman’s decision to deepen an inhumane hostile environment for migrants is clearly more convincing than her track record of not possible, arrogance and absolute ignorance. The handling of a subsequent bullying scandal where Mr. Sunak refuse to lay off a cabinet member accused of mass misconduct, further damaging the prime minister’s reputation almost before he even started.
Having difficulty managing his party, Mr. Sunak abandoned key policies in the face of internal pressure. For example, in December, the government The plan was scrapped to introduce much-needed mandatory homebuilding targets to local councils, saving Mr. Sunak from a backing rebellion. Against others, prime minister easing the ban on the onshore wind farms he previously supported.
When it comes to his biggest battles, however, Mr. Sunak has shown a tendency to be more inflexible than to negotiate. In the face of the largest wave of strikes in a generation, the prime minister refuse to make a deal with the union bosses who saw him scorn is “missing in action.” Instead, Mr. Sunak revealed an attack on right to strikeintroduced new legislation requiring a “minimum level of service” in key services and making unions liable if they failed to meet.
It was an approach that made him even more at odds with Famea place of support for prominent public sector workers High. It also betrays a general lack of political consciousness. Even Margaret Thatcher gave public sector workers a 25 percent salary increase when she took office in 1979, to end strike action. Discontent with Mr Sunak’s approach has earned him a rare rebuke from the monarchy. Newly minted used King Charles III Christmas day address to praise “health and social care professionals and teachers and indeed all who work in the public service.”
Mr Sunak’s heavy-handedness could even hasten the end of the UK. A war on a new one gender recognition bill passed by the Scottish government, which would make it easier for transgender people to change their legal gender, fell into constitutional disaster after Mr. used the veto to block the law. This is the first time the veto has been used since it was established in 1998, a decision taken without strong justification. Scotland’s first minister vowed to “strong protection“bill in court, likely to put gas in a rising independence movement.
After the chaos of 2022, in which Britain became the focal point of political and economic turmoil, many hoped Mr Sunak would be a safe man. However, the first three months of his term were a disappointment. For Mr. Sunak, facing an unhappy country, a volatile party and the opposition leading the way in the polls, it looks like a long year ahead.
