‘I mark three years as PM with immense satisfaction in the work we have done’
WHEN I became Prime Minister three years ago today, the British people were despairing of a deadlocked Parliament, a paralysed Government, and a political system that appeared to be rigged against vast swathes of the country.
The task before me was very clear: to break the logjam and get Brexit done so that we could get on with the vital task of levelling up the United Kingdom.
And that’s what I did – hitting the reset button on Parliament by winning the biggest Conservative majority for a generation and, within weeks, extracting our country from the clutches of the European Union.
We took back control of our money. We took back control of our borders and installed a points-based system for immigration.
We took back control of our laws.
And we took back the sovereign right of the British people to determine their own future in Parliament.
The Remainiacs and Remoaners and Rejoiners didn’t like it then and they don’t like it now.
You don’t have to look hard to spot them...some quietly plotting in dark corners of Westminster, others spewing hashtags across social media as they sneer at readers of the Sunday Express and the many millions of Brits with whom they disagree.
Still more are camped outside
Downing Street, bellowing through megaphones at bemused tourists and long-suffering police officers.
But the British people put their faith in me to get the job done.
And as I prepare to leave this fantastic job after three years at No 10 I’m proud to say that’s exactly what I did, with Brexit and so much more besides.
Because this government has fought some of the hardest yards in modern political history.we have had to take some of the bleakest decisions since the war.
And time and again we got the big calls right. So we can look to the future with a rock-like confidence in what this government has done.
We’ve invested in our children’s futures, giving schools their biggest financial boost for a decade.we’ve invested in our precious National Health Service, with a record-breaking increase in funding and around 30,000 extra nurses recruited.
We’ve invested in making our streets safer, well on track to hit our target of 20,000 new police officers on the beat by the end of next year.
We’ve invested in making our planet cleaner, with wind farms sprouting like so many giant aquatic daffodils across the vast reaches of the North and Celtic Seas.
We’ve even invested in making your wi-fi quicker.when I became Prime Minister just nine per cent of British properties could access the fastest gigabit-capable broadband.you know what that number is today? Sixty-eight per cent.
And all this of course against the backdrop of the worst global pandemic in living memory.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Two. A virus the origins of which we still do not fully understand, the spread of which was appallingly difficult to manage, and the impact of which was simply devastating.
But even in the face of this microscopic yet deadly foe, even as the world was struck with wave after wave, variant after variant, the people of this magnificent country did not give up.and thanks to the courage of the British people and to their indomitable resilience, we protected our NHS.WE saved untold thousands and thousands of lives.
And relief, when it finally arrived, came thanks to the genius of British scientists who performed a kind of biological jiu-jitsu, turning the virus on itself in the form of a vaccine from an idea that was pioneered in this country by Edward Jenner in 1796.
A vaccine that, thanks to this government, was safely yet swiftly licensed faster than any in history, and rolled out faster than was the case in any comparable country – helping us get out of lockdown quicker and get our economy growing sooner.
So as I mark three years as Prime Minister it is with immense satisfaction in the work this government has done.
And it is round-the-clock, seven-days-aweek work that continues to this day and will continue until the famous black door closes behind me for the final time
We’re rising to the challenge of rising prices, with £37billion of help for households.we’re giving every family £400, with £1,200 for the most vulnerable. The payments started landing in bank accounts last week – shortly after the single biggest tax cut in a decade started showing up on your payslips.
And of course we are standing, in resolute kinship, with the government and people of Ukraine.
There are some who speculate that today I am more popular in Kyiv than I am in Kensington.
I don’t know if that’s true, but if it is the case then it’s not because of what the political commentators say, or what the keyboard warriors of Twitter are up to.
It’s because of the foresight and boldness of the government that I lead.
While others dithered and worried about what antagonising Putin would mean for their own prospects, the UK despatched plane after plane loaded with weapons to the Ukrainian front lines.
It was a decision made possible by the biggest investment in defence since the cold war. And a decision that made a tide-turning difference in those crucial first few days as the fiercely brave Ukrainian forces repelled wave after wave of Russian tanks.
THE BATTLE for Ukraine is far from over, but I do believe that in time President Zelenskyy and his people will emerge victorious. And though that victory may be of massive strategic importance in the face of Putin’s aggression and adventurism, it will be also a victory of right over wrong. Of the little guy over the big bully. That’s what this government has always been about.we don’t take the easy route, we don’t default to standing with the loudest, or the strongest.
For three years we have been sticking up for you. Fighting for what’s right. Making this the kind of proud and prosperous country you want it to be.
On the day I arrived at No 10 I made the point that no one had ever succeeded in betting against the pluck and nerve and ambition of this country as we set out into the world.
Much has changed in the intervening three years. But that’s one thing that’s as true today as it has ever been.