Rishi Sunak Lists Tory Wins In Letter To MPs Aimed At Lifting Spirits
Rishi Sunak has written to Conservative MPs to shore up support and list his achievements (Alamy)
3 min read
Rishi Sunak has written to Conservative MPs listing what he believes the party has achieved, in a bid to lift spirits as he warns of tough times and a “difficult fight” in the local elections.
The party faces a set of local elections in May in which they are expected to lose hundreds of seats. New polling released by YouGov on Thursday morning showed the Tories support had fallen below 20 per cent for the first time since Rishi Sunak took over as Prime Minister, with 44 per cent of respondents saying they intended to vote Labour.
In a three-page letter sent to Tory MPs on Thursday, Sunak said it was “great” to see so many MPs at a meeting of the 1922 Committee of Backbench Conservative MPs earlier in the week, and that the “sense of determination in the room was energising”.
PoliticsHome understands the letter was intended to boost backbench morale heading into Easter recess and challenge the gloomy narrative surrounding the party as MPs embark on door knocking ahead of the 2 May local votes. Sunak wrote the last few years had “not been easy” but the Government had made progress.
“The weeks and months ahead will be tough, but I’m confident we’ve put the country on right track to build the brighter future every one of our constituents deserve,” he added.
He claimed the government had brought down National Insurance Contributions by 12 per cent, and that his administration had helped reduce inflation from 11.1 per cent to 3.4 per cent. According to the ONS, inflation has steadily fallen from October 2022 to February 2024.
The Prime Minister also added that Business Taxes had been cut by £11billion a year by the Conservatives. Many Tory MPs and economists have stated that tax cuts which have been made in some areas have been compensated for tax hikes elsewhere.
He boasted that the government had kept the pensions Triple Lock, and that ministers had succeeded in getting more people back to work by tightening the welfare system.
"By keeping the Triple Lock in place and increasing cost of living payments for pensioners, we have eased pressures on older people, further increasing the State Pension this year by £900, ensuring they have the dignity they deserve,” he wrote.
He said the Government had made the right and difficult decisions on Net Zero to deliver it in a more proportionate way.
“Crime is down by over 50 per cent since 2010 and we’ve fulfilled our manifesto commitment of recruiting 20,000 more officers. We’ve also passed the Public Order Act to stop extremist groups like Just Stop Oil causing misery to the hard-working majority," he wrote.
He added the NHS was receiving "record funding" which meant more "doctors, more nurses, more scans, more operations and more appointments". Despite this NHS waiting times remain high, with the Government having failed to bring them below the level since Sunak took office.
The Prime Minister championed the UK for using its "Brexit freedoms" including its admission to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership,
He said since leaving the EU the UK had secured trade deals with over 73 countries plus the EU, and was working to secure a free trade deal with India.
Sunak ended his letter by stating “Labour still can’t offer the nation any semblance of a plan for the future” and their central promises were unfunded.
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