- Saturday, July 27, 2024
The prime minister, who is facing a tough election on July 4, made the remarks while launching the Conservatives’ manifesto on June 11. He also backed his party saying it’s capable of making the UK a better place to live.
By: Shubham Ghosh
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak, who last month called a snap election for July 4 and is firefighting to see his ruling Conservative regain some lost ground in weeks before the polls, has conceded that he aware that people are not happy with either his party or himself but added that Tories are the only party in this election that have major ideas to make the UK a better place to live.
Launching the Conservatives’ election manifesto in Silverstone in central England on Tuesday (11), Sunak, who is Britain’s first Indian-origin premier, said, “I’m not blind to the fact that people are frustrated with our party and frustrated with me.”
“Things have not always been easy, and we have not got everything right, but we are the only party in this election with the big ideas to make our country a better place to live,” he added.
The 44-year-old, who became the prime minister in October 2022 amid political chaos, pledged to slash billions of pounds of taxes and back first-time homebuyers if he emerges winner in the general election, making one of his last-ditch efforts to turn a faltering election around.
Read: Sunak rejects resignation rumours amid D-Day row
The Conservatives are around 20 points behind the opposition Labour Party in the polls, brightening the latter’s hopes to return to power after 14 years.
Sunak also committed during his launch speech that he is committed to “halve migration as we have halved migration and then reduce it every single year”, SKY News reported.
Read: UK election will see biggest ever rise in minority representation
Other policies in the manifesto include, among others: raising the threshold for high-income child benefit charge payments for single-earner families to £120,000, an increase from the current £60,000; a guarantee against hiking income tax, national insurance or VAT; and a commitment to ensure that there will be no introduction of new taxes on pensions or any increase in existing ones for the entirety of the next parliament, as part of a workplace pension guarantee.
While Sunak has been campaigning extensively for the Tories ahead of the July 4 battle, things have only become more challenging for him, especially last week when he left an international D-Day event in France early, sparking such an outrage that he was forced to bury rumours that he was thinking of stepping down.
