Sunak is asked several times if he would help the Royal Family to reconcile, as former PM John Major was asked to do in the 1990s.

Rishi Sunak says he would " never, ever comment on matters to do with the Royal Family."

He is then asked if the public still can have faith in the monarchy.

He replies: "In general I wouldn’t get into talking about the Royal Family but it’s something that I’m proud of and I think the country is proud of.

"And we saw that last year I think very movingly multiple times and I’m confident that we’ll actually see it this year with King Charles’ coronation, which will be another fantastic occasion for the country to come together and celebrate something special about Britain and recognise what is happening which is something to celebrate."

Image source, Jeff Overs/BBC

Rishi Sunak insists his determination to stabilise the economy and the current tax burden does not go against Conservative principles.

"So I think it is a deeply Conservative thing to make sure the economy is managed responsibly, that inflation is brought back to where it belongs, that borrowing is responsible so we’re not burdening the future generations with debt.

"And that we are growing the economy and providing jobs for everybody, everywhere."

He reiterates his five priorities to "to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists and stop the boats."

The PM insists it is his government's policies and decisions that will have an effect on the economy and the cost of living and dismissed the suggestion, put to him by Laura Kuenssberg, that inflation is predicted to halve anyway.

He said: "It doesn’t happen automatically, it happens because of the plans that we’ve put in place.

"So that’s why it’s not a given that it just happens, you have to continue to be disciplined and make the right responsible decisions in order to bring inflation down."

He added: "We can't help anybody, whether it’s nurses or everyone else, unless we get inflation down, and that’s why it’s one of our five priorities."

Kuenssberg asks the PM if he will talk about paying nurses more in the current financial year - rather than for 2023-24 - when he meets union leaders tomorrow.

He says: “The most important thing is to be talking.” And that it would not be right to start having negotiations in public.

Pushed on whether the government will be discussing this year’s pay for nurses, he says the government is about to start the independent process around a new pay settlement round for this year and before that it must sit down with the unions.

Kuenssberg points out these conversations are for financial year 23/24, when nurses want to talk about pay now.

Sunak says "yes, that - I mean we about to have that conversation".

“When it comes to pay, as I’ve said, it’s not appropriate for those conversations to happen in public, but the most important thing is that we are talking.”

He says the government across the board has accepted the recommendations of independent bodies when it comes to pay.

Laura Kuenssberg turns the interview to nurses’ pay - and the ongoing dispute which has led to the Royal College of Nursing bringing its members out on strike.

She asks Sunak if he categorically rules out paying them more this year.

He says: “It’s important they recognise the work they do is appreciated and I’m grateful and the government is grateful for it... And that’s why we want to have a reasonable, honest, two way conversation about pay and everything else that is relevant”.

Kuenssberg clarifies: “You do want to have a conversation about pay?”

Sunak says: “That’s always been the case, the door has always been open… we’ve always said we want to talk about things that are reasonable, that are affordable and responsible for the country.”

He says he’s invited all the unions from across the public sector in for talks and many of those are happening on Monday.

Asked what the NHS should stop doing, Sunak says it’s about doing things differently to treat people in the right places because there’s lots of people who are in hospital who don’t need to be there.

He says it’s about intervening early on by giving people care in their home, community or making better use of pharmacists or other new primary care workers.

Kuenssberg says the health secretary said the NHS should prioritise the important things and do fewer things. She asks is he wrong?

Sunak says: “We need to make sure that we do focus on waiting lists and we’ve got a clear plan to do that.”

He says he wants to ease some of the pressures in emergency care and improve access to primary care.

Moving on to healthcare and Laura Kuenssberg asks the PM if he was or ever has been registered with a private GP.

He says his dad was a doctor and he grew up in an NHS family.

Pushed again on the question - and the decisions he makes - he says he has made a general policy to never talk about his or his family’s healthcare situation and it’s not relevant.

Kuenssberg says there is huge public interest in the decisions he makes and that Margaret Thatcher was open about her choice to use a private GP.

He does not answer the question but says in general we should be making more use of the private sector for things like elective surgery so that patients can choose where they have treatment.

Kuenssberg turns to Sunak’s intention to pass legislation to “stop the boats” of migrants crossing the Channel, asking what his actual target is.

He says: “My view is if you come here illegally you should not have the right to stay and you will be detained and then swiftly removed, either to your home…or indeed to a safe third alternative.”

He says new laws will be passed early this year and should apply to everybody who comes here illegally. Pushed on what his specific target is he says: “Well, the target is we want to stop illegal migration.”

He says Albania accounted for a almost a third of illegal migrant arrivals last year, yet it is a safe country.

“Other European countries return illegal migrants to Albania, we were not doing that sufficiently,” he says.

Image source, Jeff Overs/BBC

Laura Kuenssberg puts it to the prime minister that the problems in the NHS could have been foreseen - that medics and health managers had been warning the government - and the public are desperate to see improvements now.

Sunak repeats that there are measures he is implementing, such as faster discharge of patients to social care will help the situation in A&E, but admits the shortcomings:

"Now look, are those things all going to make a difference overnight? Of course they’re not, but they are going to make a difference soon and this is one of my key priorities."

He also highlights his plans for reducing waiting lists over the long term, and said he was "confident" that within a few months, patients wouldn't have to wait longer than 18 months for treatment.

Image source, PA Media

PM Rishi Sunak says he's determined that his actions, not words, will improve the NHS and he invites people to hold him to account.

Sunak says discussions held yesterday at Downing Street with health bosses looked to find best practice that could be shared amongst NHS trusts and wants to focus on getting patients discharged from hospital to social care, home settings and virtual wards.

The PM also says the impact of Covid cannot be underestimated.

"The reality is that for two years the NHS had to stop doing lots of things that it normally does... and unsurprisingly, once we get back to normal all of those treatments come back at a pace that was anticipated but is obviously very significant."

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine says at least 300 people a week have died because of delays in NHS A&E departments but the PM says he questions those numbers.

Challenged by Kuenssberg that the statistics suggest there is a crisis in emergency care, Mr Sunak says "the NHS themselves have said that they don’t recognise those numbers and would be careful about bandying them around".

But he says there are "unacceptable delays" in ambulance handovers and A&E units.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak admits the health service is struggling with the current level of demand but insists “we can get to grips” with the problem.

He says after a meeting with NHS leaders he’s left with a “renewed sense of confidence and optimism”.

Sunak insists dealing with the health service is one of his top priorities.

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is maintaining the tradition of its predecessor programmes by dedicating its first shows of the year to interviews with the main party leaders.

Today sees Prime Minister Rishi Sunak face Kuenssberg’s questions.

He’s on the air now.

Before the first of this week’s main interviews, the panel of Pat Cullen, Clive Kay and Andy Haldane are giving Laura Kuenssberg their take on the major issues of the moment.

Then we’ll hear from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, before returning to our panel who will discuss what he’s said.

All this and more to come in the next hour.

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is due up at the top of the hour, and you can watch the programme without leaving this page by clicking on the play button in the picture above.

Stay with us for the latest news lines, quotes, and video clips as we follow the show - which features this week Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, and director Sir Sam Mendes.

We’ll also hear from RCN general secretary Pat Cullen, hospital boss Clive Kay and economist Andy Haldane.

Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

Image source, Jeff Overs/BBC

With timing that Labour is gleefully pointing out, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's promise to sort out the NHS came on the anniversary of a different vow from one of his predecessors.

The Conservative leader then was David Cameron who promised in 2010 that he would sort out the nation's finances, and "cut the deficit, not the NHS".

The promise came after a long stint of hard work by his tribe of Tory modernisers to "detoxify" the party's brand, to use the language of the day.

Absolutely core to that was to persuade the public to trust the Conservatives with the health service - which is never far from the top of the list of voters' concerns.

Fast-forward to the start of 2023 and the NHS is again high on the list of the public's concerns. It is creaking and struggling with the data nearly all pointing in the wrong direction.

• Read the full preview of today's interview with the prime minister here

The second week of the new year will see more strikes across the country, as ambulance crews, driving examiners, some London bus drivers and one of Scotland’s teaching unions are on strike - mostly in disputes over pay.

This comes after a week in which the rail network in Britain was effectively paralysed by two 48-hour walkouts by members of the RMT union and one 24-hour strike by train drivers belonging to Aslef.

Here’s a graphic showing the planned strike days for January - and you can get further details here.

Image source, .

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, Getty Images

The government wants to lessen the impact of strikes in half a dozen public services.

But what difference will its planned new law make, and by when?

Ministers picked their moment to set out their plans: on a day when train drivers had walked out, and within hours of the Labour leader's new year speech, poaching some of Keir Starmer's limelight.

The planned new law will see the light of day early next week, I'm told, when it is given what's called its first reading, external in the Commons.

It is then expected that it will have its second reading - when MPs get a chance to debate it - the week after next.

Ministers don't anticipate their plans encountering any significant problems in the Commons, where the government has a sizeable majority, but that is far from the end of it.

That's because its next stop will be the House of Lords, where the numbers are much less favourable for the government.

And then there is the possibility of legal challenges too. The trades unions are incensed by the plans.

So, in short, these ideas, even if they do become law, won't make any difference as far as this winter's strikes are concerned - and they might not make any difference for rather a while.

• You can read Chris’s full analysis here

More revelations from Prince Harry's forthcoming autobiography Spare feature heavily on the front pages of Sunday's papers.

The Mail on Sunday, Sunday Telegraph and Sunday People report his feelings of guilt at only crying once following the death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales.

The Sunday Mirror reports that Harry's claim that he killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan has attracted criticism from military experts. The paper says his "stupid boast" will make athletes competing in the Invictus Games he founded for wounded ex-service personnel a target.

The Sunday Times reports that the NHS is going to buy capacity in the care home sector to free up hospital beds in a bid to ease the NHS crisis. And the Observer leads on a story about NHS hospitals promoting private treatments offered in their buildings for patients who want to "jump the queue".

You can read more about what's making the Sunday papers here.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

The NHS is in the middle of its worst winter in a generation, with senior doctors warning that hospitals are facing intolerable pressures that are costing lives.

A&E waits and ambulance delays are at their worst levels on record.

The health service was already under pressure - the result of long-standing problems - but Covid, flu and now strike action by staff have all added to the sense of crisis this winter.

To help the health service cope with the demands of an ageing population as well as pay for advances in medicine, the NHS budget has traditionally risen by an average of 4% above inflation each year.

Image source, .

But since 2010, the average annual rate of increase has been half that.

Of course, that is when a Conservative-led government came into power, although it is worth bearing in mind Labour were also signed up to this squeeze following the 2008 financial crash.

Labour - despite previous big increases in funding - were promising less for the health service than the Tories in the 2010 election, while in 2015 there was little between the two parties.

The government points to extra funding for the NHS during this parliament and topped up further in the Autumn Statement, external but a decade of austerity has come at a cost.

Bed numbers have fallen, while staffing shortages have increased.

• Read Nick’s full analysis here