UK is in one of most dangerous periods in history, Sunak says
Britain is facing one of the most dangerous periods in its history, Rishi Sunak will say today, in a speech intended to frame the general election as a generational tussle for the long-term future of the country.
The prime minister will give a speech in central London in which he will lay out what he believes to be at stake in the next election, as he warns that the UK faces threats from international conflict, migration and technology.
The speech, which aides say Sunak has planned for some time, is an attempt to shift the political focus away from the turmoil that has engulfed the Conservative party in recent years and helped give Labour a 20-point poll lead.
He is due to say: “I have bold ideas that can change our society for the better, and restore people’s confidence and pride in our country. I feel a profound sense of urgency. Because more will change in the next five years than in the last 30.
“I’m convinced that the next few years will be some of the most dangerous yet most transformational our country has ever known.”
Sunak has endured a difficult fortnight as prime minister, seeing his party crash to heavy defeats in the local and mayoral elections and then watching Natalie Elphicke, one of his backbench MPs, defect to Labour.
However, Tory strategists believe he has emerged stronger from that period. A long-threatened attempt by Conservative MPs to unseat the prime minister failed to materialise, meaning he is all but guaranteed to be party leader until the election.
Senior Tories believe Elphicke’s defection may end up backfiring on Labour given the controversy over her attempts to influence the judge overseeing the 2020 trial of her then husband, Charlie Elphicke, on sexual assault charges.
Sunak’s aides believe he may be able to pull off an unlikely win at the general election partly by presiding over a continued economic recovery and partly by turning it into a personal contest between himself and the Labour leader, Keir Starmer.
Sunak is overwhelmingly unpopular with the electorate. He has a net approval rating of -59 according to Ipsos Mori – as bad as any prime minister on record. However, Starmer is also unpopular, with a net approval rating of -31, and the Conservatives
nd are hoping to capitalise on voters’ doubts about him at the election.
In his speech today the prime minister will focus on three threats facing the world: war, migration and the rapid advance of technologies such as artificial intelligence. He will argue that he and his party have a plan for each, in contrast to Labour.
He will highlight his party’s pledge to spend 2.5% of economic output on defence by the end of the decade, a timetable Labour has refused to back. The party said it would instead meet the target “as soon as resources allow”.
He will talk about his plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, a plan Labour has promised to scrap and instead use the money on tackling people-smuggling gangs.
And he will mention the way he has led international attempts to regulate AI, including hosting last year’s inaugural international AI summit at Bletchley Park.
The prime minister will say: “Our country stands at a crossroads. Over the next few years, from our democracy to our economy to our society – to the hardest questions of war and peace – almost every aspect of our lives is going to change.
“How we act in the face of these changes – not only to keep people safe and secure but to realise the opportunities too – will determine whether or not Britain will succeed in the years to come.”
Those close to Sunak say he will not set out a timetable for when he intends to hold this election, instead sticking to the line that it will come in the second half of this year.
David Cameron, the foreign secretary, yesterday urged the prime minister to hold out until late this year. Cameron said: “The longer we have between now and the election, the more you’re going to see the plan is working.”
‘I have bold ideas that can change our society for the better, and restore people’s confidence and pride in our country’
Rishi Sunak In a speech due today