Exactly one year ago, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s term began. In six years, Sunak was the fifth prime minister to take office, so he had to put things back together in the UK after the chaos caused by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his short-term prime minister, Liz Truss. According to reporter Lea van Beechoven, Sunak has done everything he can to make his party credible, but it remains to be seen whether this has had the desired effect.
He added: “Voters want deep reforms and do not believe they will get them from a conservative prime minister.”
Over the past year, Van Beechoven notes, the UK’s first British Asian leader has tried to restore trust in politics. “But voters see a prime minister launching one initiative after another without regaining his power.”
Sunak’s popularity
According to the correspondent, British citizens currently see a prime minister who appears to have less control over events than they do over him. While Sunak was more popular than his Conservative Party after the turbulent rule of Boris Johnson and the chaotic 47 days of Truss.
But now, a year later, according to Van Bechoven, Britons don’t really seem interested in Sunak’s promises to do amazing things. The reporter explains, “Voters want comprehensive reforms, and they do not believe they will get them from a conservative prime minister.”
The “impossible” has happened.
This pessimism is reflected in the fact that the Conservative Party lost two seats last weekend in areas where “votes are not usually counted, as the saying goes, but weighed,” according to Van Beechoven. Opposition Leader Keir Starmer said in response that “the impossible” had happened because some Conservative voters voted for Labor for the first time in their lives.
Listen also | Rishi Sunak has been in power for one year
“It looks like Sunak is stuck.” Inflation remains high, as do tax levels. “There is a national feeling of pessimism and many conservatives have already given up hope that they can win the next election,” Van Beechoven said. The reporter fears that the Conservatives would be better prepared for election defeat next year.
