Rishi Sunak has attempted to defend his record in government by claiming Labour “inherited an economy that is already on an upward trajectory”.
Speaking in the Commons following Wednesday’s King’s Speech, the former prime minister – who was ousted in the general election – claimed the new Chancellor Rachel Reeves was “keen to paint as bleak a picture as possible” about the state of the public finances left by the Conservatives in the Treasury.
But he said he would “gently point out that this is not exactly what the facts say” following his tenure as the successor to Liz Truss’s tumultuous time in office.
Politics live: Starmer pledges ‘national renewal’ in King’s Speech
“Inflation at 2%, unemployment 4%, and the fastest growing economy in the G7,” said the Tory leader. “The party opposite has inherited an economy that is already on an upward trajectory.”
Mr Sunak, who also served as chancellor under Boris Johnson, said the work of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) “already means [Labour] did have the full details of the public finances when they set out their manifesto” in the general election campaign.
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“The OBR has rightly taken away from governments the ability to make forecasts say what they want them to,” Mr Sunak added.
“But they have also taken away from oppositions coming into government the ability to say that they did not know the true state of the finances.
“As Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said, the books are wide open – fully transparent, in his words – trying to pretend that things are worse than expected really won’t wash.”
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But Sir Keir Starmer hit back at his predecessor’s claims, telling MPs that with “each day that passes, my government is finding new and unexpected marks… scars of the last 14 years where politics was put above the national interest, decline deep in the marrow of our institutions”.
The prime minister added: “We’ve seen that in our prisons right at large. We’ve seen it in our rivers and seas, even worse than we thought.
“And we’ve seen it in our councils, pushed to the brink by the previous government, now unable even to deliver basic services to children with special educational needs.”
Sir Keir said his government had “already taken first steps on so many of the priorities we put before the British people”.
But he said his mission for “national renewal is not a quick fix”, adding: “The rot of 14 years will take time to repair.”
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There was time for levity too during one of the first Commons exchanges between Sir Keir and Mr Sunak since they swapped roles.
Speaking about the change in his career prospects, the Conservative leader said: “Before you know it, you have a bright future behind you and you are left wondering whether you can credibly be an elder statesman at the age of 44.”
But Mr Sunak also made a commitment for as long as he was in the role of leader of the opposition, telling the House: “In the national interest we will not opposite for the sake of it.
“But when we disagree with the government it is our responsibility to say so.”
