New prime minister Rishi Sunak will be the UK's third prime minister in the space of just a few weeks. After just 44 days in the top job, Liz Truss announced she would be moving out of Number 10, following a period of market turmoil triggered by her economic plans.
Over the last week, Tory MPs have been throwing support behind various potential candidates, including former PM Boris Johnson, before deciding on Mr Sunak. The MP for Richmond was defeated just seven weeks ago in the last Tory leadership race as the party membership picked rival Ms Truss, garnering 60,399 votes to her 81,326.
His supporters have highlighted his “calm competence”, suggesting he is a “serious person for serious times”.
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This time around, Mr Sunak has said little about how he might address the issues facing the UK government, but the promises he made over the summer provide some clues on what he might do next. Here's where the new prime minister stands on some of the key issues he faces.
The economy and the cost of living crisis
Inflation has reached a 40-year high of 10.1 per cent, according to the latest consumer prices index figures, as households continue to struggle with the rising cost of living. The energy price guarantee introduced by Ms Truss is expected to ease the pressure on families, and prevent inflation from reaching the peaks that had been predicted, but it will be up to the new prime minister to decide what help will be available beyond winter.
In the July leadership contest, Rishi Sunak said he was prepared to tell hard truths about the state of the public finances rather than “comforting fairy tales”. He remained resolute in the view that Ms Truss' promises of unfunded tax cuts at a time of worsening inflation were irresponsible, dangerous and un-Conservative, predicting that they would lead to surging mortgage rates.
Mr Sunak was proved right when his rival's disastrous mini-budget triggered turbulence in the financial markets and forced the Bank of England to intervene. As the chaos continued, Mr Sunak kept a low profile, staying away from the annual Tory conference.
Mr Sunak clearly has experience in handling the economy and his realist approach may be reassuring to MPs and the public after the events of the last few weeks. Accusations in the last leadership race that he represented “Treasury orthodoxy” and a “gloomster” mentality could speak in his favour this time around.
The former chancellor hiked the tax burden to its highest level for 70 years following the pandemic, despite his personal preference for lower taxes. He is therefore unlikely to deviate from the tax u-turns set out by Jeremy Hunt on October 17, especially as he had already committed to some policies such as increasing corporation tax to 25 per cent.
On spending, Mr Sunak’s instincts are likely to align with the spending cuts already trailed by Mr Hunt. He was already unenthusiastic about large-scale spending commitments, saying in his first leadership bid that the government needed to “return to traditional Conservative economic values” rather than “fairytales”.
The NHS and healthcare
Covid backlogs, record waiting periods in A&E, and unprecedented pressures on ambulance services are just some of the challenges in the NHS in England facing the new prime minister.
Mr Sunak’s main health policy during the last leadership election was bringing in a £10 penalty for missing appointments as part of efforts to tackle the NHS backlog. He also promised a “backlogs taskforce” to coordinate that effort and an expansion of the number of overseas doctors and nurses brought in to work in the NHS.
It remains unclear whether he would seek to reintroduce the health and social care levy - an increase in national insurance - that he brought in as chancellor before it was scrapped by Ms Truss. His book-balancing instincts may push him towards doing so, but it would be the third change to that tax in a year.
Mr Sunak will have to oversee the introduction of the new social care system from October 2023, intended to see that nobody pays more than £86,000 for the personal care they need, while also coping with an ageing population and rising demand.
Immigration
The number of people risking the dangerous crossing of the English Channel this year has already hit more than 38,000, around 10,000 more than in the entirety of 2021. During the last leadership election, Mr Sunak was focused on curbing Channel crossings and toughening up asylum rules.
He said he would push ahead with the government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, tightening the definition of who can claim asylum and increasing resources for dealing with the backlog of asylum applicants. However, he said little about what he would do about work visas as the UK continues to face a labour shortage.
The former chancellor did say he wanted to be “pragmatic” and ensure immigration policy supported economic growth, which suggests a more liberal approach to work visas than that favoured by the likes of former home secretary Suella Braverman.
Net zero and energy independence
Mr Sunak has said he remains committed to the UK’s target of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. But his plans are more in line with those of Ms Truss than Mr Johnson, as he backs offshore wind, rooftop solar and nuclear power but appears less keen on solar farms and onshore wind.
During the last leadership election, he said he wanted to see the UK become energy independent by 2045, but also said he would keep the ban on building new onshore wind farms and vowed to prevent farmland being covered in solar panels. He also backed lifting the moratorium on fracking, providing it had local support. This is the same policy that Ms Truss supported, but fracking has proved a contentious issue for Tory MPs and could therefore become a lower priority for Mr Sunak.
As chancellor, Mr Sunak cut VAT on home insulation measures and during the leadership campaign said he would “embark on a programme of massive energy efficiency upgrades in people’s homes”.
Brexit
Mr Sunak backed Brexit from the beginning and has previously expressed his support for the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill that would unilaterally rip up the agreement on Ireland.
Pushing ahead with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, allowing the UK government to override elements of the UK-EU deal, is likely to provoke a fierce parliamentary battle in the Lords, as well as outrage in Brussels.
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