British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to halve rampant inflation and grow the economy by the end of the year.
Sunak promised to work "night and day" to honor those promises before the next election, and to create "a future that restores optimism, hope and pride in Britain."
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) of inflation is currently running at 10.7 percent, amid the energy crisis prompted by Western sanctions on Russia, while the Retail Price Index (RPI) is 16.1 percent.
"First, we will halve inflation this year to ease the cost of living and give people financial security," Sunak said. "Second, we will grow the economy, creating better-paid jobs and opportunity right across the country."
Small businesses have faced the choice between shutting up shop this winter or going bankrupt as energy bills increased ten-fold. That has also had a knock-on effect on the prices of other goods, including staple foods.
The PM added that reducing national debt was vital to "secure the future of public services,” while also pledging to cut waiting times in the crisis-ridden National Health Service (NHS), where nurses and ambulance staff are taking strike action.
2022 saw a wave of strikes across multiple sectors as employers’ pay offers of around five percent failed to keep up with soaring inflation.
Sunak insisted the government was "taking urgent action" to add another 7,000 beds to hospital capacity, along with "future plans for A&E and ambulances."
He also said he wanted "reasonable dialogue" with trade unions, insisting that his cabinet "hugely value public sector workers like nurses."
"Fifth, we will pass new laws to stop small boats, making sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed,” he warned migrants arriving from the European continent.
The numbers of people trafficked across the channel in flimsy and overloaded boats have multiplied to tens of thousands per year, with young men from Albania now making up the bulk of arrivals.
Those who are rescued by the coastguard and RNLI lifeboat service claim political asylum and are commonly accommodated in hotels or even on docked cruise ships at taxpayers’ expense.
Trafficking has proven difficult to stem, despite pledges by Sunak’s predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, as agreements with France — the launching point for most of the trafficking boats — to tighten policing of its coast.