Rishi Sunak has defended his record on the economy, saying he has more than halved inflation, and dismisses suggestions he had failed on his five pledges.
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00:00 I was always clear that my plan was to halve inflation and then start cutting taxes to
00:05 help people with their financial security and that's what we've delivered. We've halved
00:10 inflation, more than halved inflation, managed the economy well, managed borrowing and spending
00:14 responsibly so that we're in a position to cut taxes. This weekend that tax cut came
00:18 into action for an average person earning £35,000, that's worth £450 which will provide
00:24 them with more financial security and peace of mind that the future will be better for
00:28 them and their children. That's what I'm interested in delivering, that's what I said I would
00:32 do and that's what I am doing. At the same time we're also looking after the most vulnerable
00:35 in our society. We've had near record increases in universal credit, the triple lock has been
00:41 protected for pensioners and over the past several months we've had extra payment to
00:45 the most vulnerable so that we can help them with the cost of living and energy bills.
00:49 You mentioned inflation there, you made five pledges a year ago, four of them you failed
00:55 on. What's your working assumption for when you might keep those promises to the British
00:59 people? Well I actually think we are making progress on all our priorities. The economy
01:03 was forecast to be in a deep year long recession a year ago, we've avoided that and outperformed
01:07 countries like Germany. We have more than halved inflation from almost 11% to under
01:12 4%. We've continued to make sure we're on track to reduce debt thanks to our responsible
01:16 management of spending and borrowing and the number of boats coming here has been down
01:21 by over a third last year because of our actions. So look we are making progress but I know
01:26 that there's more to do. We've got to stick to the plan, that's the important thing, we've
01:29 got to stick to the plan because the plan is starting to deliver the long term change
01:33 that the country needs and that's how we're going to bring peace of mind to everyone that
01:37 the future is going to be better for their children and that we can have a renewed sense
01:40 of pride in our country. That's what my objective is and that's what I'm going to set out to