Last week, Britain appointed it's third Prime Minister in as many months. Rishi Sunak,
without a single vote from the public, a campaign, or even any opposition, became the
incumbent leader on 25th October. As the nation is facing a mountain of troubles,
including a severe cost of living crisis and threats of blackouts, this “revolving door of chaos” is the last thing we need – and Sunak’s Government, however long it may last, offers not even a glimmer of hope for the country.
Sunak replaced Liz Truss as leader of the Conservative Party, who was given the role on 6th September this year. Truss had won a leadership contest against her successor, which
was called when former PM, Boris Johnson, was forced to resign after his government
received the highest number of resignations in British history.
Johnson’s downfall came as a result of his declining popularity among the electorate following his involvement in countless scandals, such as breaking his own laws and becoming the first sitting PM to be convicted of a crime.
Truss was appointed in the hopes of cleaning up this mess and restoring any kind of faith that the Tory party were capable of running the country; 44 days later she too, handed in her resignation. She proved unable to quell the vicious infighting in her party, and produced a mini-budget so disastrous it sent the pound crashing to a record low.
Now Sunak is tasked with fixing the disasters of his predecessors, with his supporters
declaring his premiership shows that the 'adults are back in charge'. But does the new PM
really symbolise an end to the political turmoil his party has inflicted on us, and can he offer
any real fixes to the problems the country is facing?
Although Sunak may represent a slight period of stability after months of disarray in the top
office, the problems that plagued the PMs before him have not disappeared. The
Conservatives are as divided as ever, and it will be likely that the PM will be forced into
making concessions to the most extreme factions of his party in an effort to maintain some
semblance of order. Scandal has also already beset his week-old government. His Home
Secretary, Suella Braverman, who was reappointed after being forced out of Truss’ cabinet
just two weeks ago, has been accused of leaking sensitive government data. If Sunak is to
stay on, he will have to find answers to these issues and build confidence that his
government can be trusted.
The country itself is also teetering on the brink of crisis. The NHS is descending into disaster, inflation soars, millions of Brits are falling into poverty, and strikes are afflicting a multitude of working sectors. The new PM is unlikely to offer any meaningful solutions to these problems. His economic plan is based on slashing spending on public services, arguing this will lower interest rates and bring down inflation. All this will actually do is
disproportionately hurt those who are most vulnerable and deepen the social injustices of
an already unequal society.
Sunak’s pursuit of a programme of austerity will mean ruin for the NHS, education, and welfare state, and he has already proven his disinterest in tackling wider issues of climate change and inequality. He demoted his climate minister and opted out of attending the UN COP27 meeting, and has committed to the continuation of the harsh anti-immigration policies that have systematically harmed BAME communities in the UK for the past 10 years. It is unsurprising that Sunak, who is incredibly wealthy even by British elite standards, is so out-of-touch with the concerns of general public; he has even previously bragged about moving money away from the most deprived areas of the country.
Not only is Sunak’s policy path unfit to address the most serious problems facing Britain at
the moment, but the majority of the population do not want it. According to YouGov, as of
26th October, 23% said they would vote Conservative in an election, compared to 51% who
said they would vote Labour. Whilst Labour’s lead has shrunk slightly since the new PM was
announced, it is still evident that the current government has no mandate from the people
for the policies they intend to pursue.
That being said, the chance of an early general election is slim. The only way for this to happen would be if the PM himself calls it, or if the government lose a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons. Sunak is incredibly unlikely to call one as it is almost certain he would lose, and since the Tories have an 80-seat majority in the Commons, and Tory MPs would not want to risk losing their seats, the government losing a vote is improbable.
Sunak has become the head of a government that is clearly in shambles, at a time when the
country needs stable and decisive leadership more than ever. His economic paradigm of
austerity will be nothing but a detriment to the majority of people across the country, and
he derived no legitimacy for it from the electorate. Britain needs a lot more than what
Sunak and the Conservatives are willing to give, and we deserve a chance to express this at
the polls.
Edited by Caitlin Hart