Good progress on bringing down inflation, says British PM Rishi Sunak

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday that the government is making “good progress” on bringing down inflation as he laid out his priorities at the start of the governing Conservatives’ annual conference.
 

Britain’s inflation rate is forecast to fall to about 5 per cent by the end of the year —half January’s level — and meeting the target would mean Sunak would meet one of the five key pledges he set out at the start of the year.
 

“Inflation is making people feel poorer, the quicker we bring inflation down the better it is, and that is why it is the right priority, and we are making good progress,” Sunak told the BBC.
 

Meanwhile, his hopes of using the Conservative annual conference to unite his party ahead of a general election suffered an early setback, as Tory demands for immediate tax cuts put the premier on the back foot before the event is properly underway.
 

During an at times tetchy interview with the BBC, Sunak said that while he’d like to cut taxes, his priority remains to get inflation down. He also declined again to commit to building the northern leg of the UK’s flagship HS2 rail project to Manchester, where the Tory conference is taking place.
 

Sunak’s Conservatives trail the opposition Labour Party by double digits in opinion polls, and the prime minister is under pressure to come up with policy plans to win over voters. But tax wasn’t the only source of tension on Sunday, as former Home Secretary Priti Patel labeled incumbent Suella Braverman of seeking attention with her recent comments on immigration.