Rishi Sunak supporters claim he’s the only candidate who can fix Britain’s economic woes
RISHI Sunak is the only candidate aiming to be Prime Minister with the credibility to fix the nation’s economic woes, his supporters declared last night.
The ex-Chancellor is preparing to formally launch his second bid for No10 this weekend — as the markets had another wobble over the latest turmoil in Westminster.
Last night, 100 Tory MPs had gone public to back him, reaching the threshold to secure a place in next week’s vote for the next PM.
A pal said: “If Rishi runs, it will be on a ticket to fix the economic problems we face.
“He had the right plan in the summer and he has the right plan now to bring stability and give confidence to markets.”
They added: “A stable economy and strong public finances means we can get back to what we promised in 2019 — taking advantage of the opportunities presented by Brexit, a strong NHS, better schools and safer streets.”
Yesterday, No10 said it would be a matter for the new PM whether to go ahead with publication of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s economic forecast on October 31 — causing fresh uncertainty in the City.
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A wildly fluctuating pound dropped back as low as $1.10 as investors digested the uncertainty caused by another leadership battle. It later rose to $1.12.
Amid growing concern that the new Chancellor’s medium-term fiscal plan and OBR costing could be pushed back, government bonds also started falling.
The yield — or how much investors want in return for owning them on ten and 30-year government bonds — rose back above four per cent.
While not as high as during the mini-budget turmoil, analysts said the volatility in the currency and gilt markets showed investors still did not believe the UK was a safe bet.
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Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at Ebury, said: “Uncertainty in British politics remains rife, which will do little to inspire confidence in UK assets.”
The poor performance by the pound and stocks was also partly caused by weaker-than-expected economic data.
Official figures showed government borrowing hit £20billion last month, almost £3billion more than economists had expected. The increase, partly caused by rising inflation, meant interest payments were also pushed to £7.7billion in September.
Government debt is now at the same levels as during the early 1960s. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the rise could mean the debt pile hits £200billion this year.
Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics revealed retail sales slipped by 1.4 per cent last month, worse than the 0.5 per cent decline experts had predicted.
Mr Sunak spent Friday making calls to MPs before throwing his hat in the ring to replace Liz Truss.
One aide said: “The party and country needs someone who’s going to bring people together. Rishi is talking to as many colleagues as possible to understand how that can best be done.”
But he won a number of big-name backers on Friday, including ex-Chancellor Sajid Javid, who said Mr Sunak had “values our party needs” to help “move on from the mistakes of the past”.
And former Boris backer Johnny Mercer said he could not put himself or his constituents through another Johnson leadership.
He told BBC Radio 4: “I love Boris to bits. He’s got amazing qualities for this country.
“But it is now time for serious, competent, straightforward and values-based governance.”
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Tobias Ellwood MP said he was the 100th MP to support Mr Sunak.
He tweeted: “The free market experiment is over — it’s been a low point in our Party’s great history. The reset begins.”
RISHI CAN RESTORE TRUST
By Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow
LAST weekend, I met a lady in my constituency who owns a small business.
She has been a Conservative voter for many years. But she told me she was terrified.
She was talking about her business loans that were going to be recalled by the bank, her mortgage rates that were going up and up and much more.
This is being experienced by millions of people and business owners across the country. And this uncertainty is one of the reasons why the Conservatives are so low in the opinion polls.
We need to give people that certainty back and that’s why I’m supporting Rishi Sunak to be Prime Minister.
Not only did everything he say in the summer sadly come to pass but he is the right man to fix the problems we face.
He knows the priority must be to get inflation and interest rates down and stabilise the economy.
Not too long ago he invested millions of pounds into skills and apprenticeships. He knows that by investing in skills you can increase productivity and economic growth too.
During Covid he saved millions from destitution with the furlough scheme and saved thousands of businesses with grants and loans.
He helped people with the cost of living and I believe he will restore trust in the party.