Rishi Sunak has set us on right path to meet challenges, says Wolverhampton MP

In a wide-ranging New Year speech the Prime Minister set out his plan to "deliver on the people's priorities", including five key pledges the public should judge him against.

He said he would halve inflation to ease the cost of living, grow the economy by creating better paid jobs, cut NHS waiting lists and pass new laws to crack down on illegal immigration.

Stuart Anderson, Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West, said Mr Sunak had delivered "an honest reality check" of the challenges facing the country.

Mr Anderson said: "He also set out a bold vision of where we want to go to in the long term and has set the country on the right path.

"By outlining five promises he has basically said, 'Judge us on it, if we deliver we deliver, if we don't then we've got it wrong'.

"Words are cheap and we've heard so many difficult promises in politics over the last decade. People want to know what is being done to address the issues that impact them, whether it is the coast of living, the NHS or illegal immigration."

Mr Anderson said the pledge to reduce inflation would resonate with constituents

"The economy has been hit by a lot of external factors, including Covid and the war in Ukraine, but we can't just keep going on about that," he said.

"People want to know what we are doing about it and I think the Prime Minister has shown how we plan to move forward from that."

Labour's Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Pat McFadden, said Mr Sunak's speech suggested his party had nothing to offer other than "managing decline".

The Wolverhampton South East MP said: "The problem for the Prime Minister and the Conservative Party is that 13 years into their Government, it has become impossible to keep blaming others and harder to portray themselves as part of the solution.

"The NHS crisis in on their watch. The strikes are on their watch. The low economic growth that has left people worse off was on their watch.

"Even if he can steady the ship economically, as we start this new year the question really is whether the Tories have anything to offer other than managing decline.

"On the evidence of this speech it doesn’t look like it. People struggling to pay their energy and food bills are asking themselves, 'Do I feel better off under the Tories?' And the answer is no.

“For Britain to really turn the corner we need better long-term growth which will make the country more prosperous and our citizens better off.

"That’s the only way to generate the wealth we need to improve our public services and raise people’s incomes."