In his nearly 10 weeks at Downing Street, Rishi Sunak has played the serious and responsible politician card, given the recklessness or stupidity of his predecessors. Even the British Prime Minister has learned that a good slogan can be more effective than the most elaborate speech. However, by repeatedly repeating his “five promises” to British citizens this Wednesday, he failed to rekindle the magic of Boris Johnson’s slogans. These were ambiguous enough to be irrefutable – Take Back Control, Let’s Recover Control; or Get Brexit Done, Let’s Make Brexit Happen. Sunaks were too specific, and the media immediately figured out where the seams are for them to jump through.
“Inflation halved; economy is growing; debt reduction; fewer waiting lists; and end of boats [con inmigrantes irregulares]“. Over and over again the Prime Minister repeated a refrain detailed in these five commitments:
First promise. Halve inflation before the end of the year. The consensus of experts shows that the peak was reached last October at 11.1% and started falling in November at 10.7%. In its forecasts, the Bank of England itself already anticipates that inflation will fall significantly by the middle of the year thanks to a certain easing of energy prices.
Second Promise. That the UK economy, already in recession and the worst performing G-7 in sight, will start to grow in late 2023. Some institutions, such as the UK Chambers of Commerce, are already expecting this increase to occur in the first quarter of the year.
Third Promise. reduction of the national debt. Sunak doesn’t give a specific date or percentage, merely repeating the path outlined by his Secretary of Commerce, Jeremy Hunt, late last year when he needed to present an urgent fiscal plan to raise taxes and cut public spending to reassure the public calm the markets and restore the UK’s international credibility.
Fourth promise. Reduce National Health Service waiting lists. Experts warn the NHS is experiencing the biggest crisis in its history. More than seven million people are waiting for an answer to get advice, diagnosis and treatment. There are 12,000 beds occupied by patients who could be discharged if they had the necessary care at home or in nursing homes. Thousands of doctors and almost 30,000 nurses are missing. The ambulance is on strike. The nurses are on strike. And Sunak, unable to give a date or amount by which the issue would be resolved, disguises his reluctance to raise salaries with good words. “There are many things we can talk about and I am confident we will come to a resolution. But these conversations must be based on reasonable and acceptable approaches. A 19% increase – unions want CPI plus five points – is unacceptable. I don’t think anyone believes that,” warned the prime minister, who also reiterated his intention to tighten legislation to strengthen minimum benefits.
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And fifth promise. New laws same year to speed up return or deportation of irregular immigrants. The same promise that the prime minister announced in mid-December, without specifying when the law will complete its parliamentary process and without admitting that policies of this kind always face a road full of potholes and obstacles in the courts.
“I guarantee that your priorities will be my priorities, too. I promise to be honest about whatever challenges we face. I will make all the necessary decisions, no matter how difficult, for our great country to realize its enormous potential. I will only promise what I can keep and I will keep what I promise,” announced Sunak in the first speech in which, after a bumpy start to his term almost two years ago, he had the opportunity to present his general political vision on the to express the next elections generals.
Mathematics up to 18 years
Oddly enough, it wasn’t one of his promises, but a claim added to the speech that has caused most of the noise in the UK media. Especially since the Downing Street communications team was responsible for disseminating it hours before Sunak’s speech to raise expectations. “We are one of the few countries that doesn’t require our children to learn some math content until they are 18. Half of the students between the ages of 16 and 19 do not study mathematics. In a world where data and statistics are the basis of every job, going out into the world without these skills is failing our young people,” announced the British Prime Minister. “I will make numeracy the central goal of our education system. I don’t want to say that we demand that all students get the best grade in math, but we will work with schools to ensure that all children receive math classes up to the age of 18,” he promised.
The general reaction from teachers, unions and schools was to welcome Sunak’s announcement, but with just enough skepticism. It’s not the first time a party has promised more math reinforcements. The Conservatives and Labor did. The reality, however, is that the calculations don’t add up and the number of employed mathematics teachers has been steadily declining since 2019.
The Labor opposition, starting the year in strong polls and almost a 20-point lead, has ridiculed Sunak’s promises because they were all “things that were going to happen, yeah or yeah, and they’re so simple, that the matter is complicated would not suit them,” they said in a response statement. “Or just try to solve problems caused by the Conservatives themselves,” they added.
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