Achi news desk-
Rishi Sunak has suggested he inherited the “worst hospital pass” of any new prime minister in decades when he took over from his predecessor Liz Truss.
However, Sunak said he was “absolutely confident that better times are ahead”.
The comments came in a podcast interview published by The Times with Lord Hague, the former foreign secretary and someone who is widely considered to be a mentor to the Prime Minister. Sunak succeeded Lord Hague as MP for Richmond after the 2015 general election.
The former leader of the Conservative Party told Sunak that he had become Prime Minister at a “very difficult time”.
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The prime minister replied: “I think someone has described it as the worst hospital ticket for any new prime minister in decades. There are a lot of frustrations, we’ve been through a lot as a country over the last few years, that people are understandably frustrated about.
“It makes the environment more difficult but I’m fully confident that better times are ahead.
“All the things I’ve been working hard on over the last year I think you can start to see make a difference, that change is starting to become more visible in people’s lives and that’s it” n give me optimism for the future.”
The comments come as the Office for National Statistics confirmed on Thursday that the economy contracted by 0.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2023 and by 0.3 per cent in the fourth.
That was unrevised from the statisticians’ previous estimates.
Meanwhile, 338 people crossed the English Channel on 26 March 2024, bringing the total to 1,115 in the previous seven days.
The total of 1,115 arrivals in the last seven days represents the busiest week of what remains – after almost three months – the busiest start to a year on record for crossing the Channel.
The total number of arrivals this year is 4,644 as of 26 March, 23 per cent higher than the same period in 2023 (3,770) and 12 per cent higher than the previous record year in 2022 (4,162).
“Stopping the boats” and growing the economy are two of the Prime Minister’s “five promises” for the government.
Speaking to Lord Hague, Rishi Sunak also said pollsters have been wrong before as he responded to a polling expert who claimed Labor now had a “99 per cent chance” of being in power after the next general election .
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Professor Sir John Curtice made the comment to Politics as he highlights the scale of the challenge facing the Prime Minister as he tries to lead the Conservative Party to its fifth election victory in a row.
Sunak said: “We’ve had plenty of predictions about elections and referendums in recent years that have turned out to be wrong. So we should always remember that.
“What I find when I’m out across the country, I understand there’s a lot of frustration because it hasn’t been easy but I also find a very strong sense that people feel things are getting better .”
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