British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised this Saturday that the budget, due to be presented in mid-November, will be “fair”, and reiterated that the decisions were “difficult”, given the economic and financial crisis that the country is going through.
The British government is expected to present the state budget on November 17, at a time when the country is being weighed down by record-high inflation and financial concerns caused by the previous government of Conservative Liz Truss.
According to several British media, quoted by AFP, the prime minister and his finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, are considering allocating up to 50,000 million pounds sterling (about 57,000 million euros) in tax increases and spending cuts, to guarantee stability. long-term. of public finances, predicting a return to austerity.
“You have to make tough decisions. […] but we will be fair in how we deal with them”, promised Rishi Sunak, in an interview with The Times newspaper, 10 days after his arrival at Downing Street, after the resignation of Liz Truss.
However, the official warned that “the government cannot do everything” and that it will have to choose priorities, otherwise it may have to “borrow money, which ends up causing high inflation, loss of credibility and increase in interest rates.” interest”.
“I think inflation is enemy number one,” Sunak defended, vowing to tackle the problem, after the Bank of England raised interest rates again this week in a bid to curb rising inflation.
In addition to rising prices, Britons are also experiencing interest rate hikes, driving up the cost of bank home loans.
The country has been the scene of several strikes in recent months to demand salary increases and today a new protest is planned in London against the increase in the cost of living and to demand general elections, at a time when the Conservatives, in power since 12 years ago. , are struggling to stay ahead in the polls against opposition from the Labor Party.
“My mission is to regain the trust of the British people, […] be honest and fair […] and act on issues that people care about,” Sunak stressed.
The prime minister said that he was someone the British “can trust to understand the economy”, which can be interpreted as a criticism of the predecessor, whose mandate lasted less than 50 days.
Source: TSF
