Summary

  • PM Rishi Sunak has outlined five promises he says he wants the public to judge his premiership on

  • He pledged to cut NHS waiting lists - more than 7m people are currently waiting for care in England, which is one-eighth of the population

  • Sunak said he was confident things would improve within months and asked the country to hold him to account

  • The PM also pledged to halve inflation this year to ease the cost of living – but projections show that it is already due to fall by more than half anyway

  • And he promised to grow the economy, ensure national debt was falling and stop migrant boats crossing the Channel

  • Opposition parties have hit out at his plans - Labour's shadow foreign secretary said a pledge to boost maths education "rings hollow"

  • The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) expects the UK economy to shrink by 1.4% in 2023

Live Reporting

Edited by James FitzGerald

  1. Sunak to make major speech

    Good morning and welcome to our live coverage.

    It's the fourth day of 2023 and the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is going to make his first major speech of the year this afternoon.

    He's going to set out his priorities at a time when the government is facing significant pressure - on the NHS, strikes, and the cost of living, to name a few.

    With the health service under enormous pressure, Sunak is expected to talk about backlogs and other issues.

    And journalists, including our own, will put questions to him after the speech.

    Stick with us.