Rishi Sunak implored the public to judge him on five priorities for 2023, nailing his colours to the mast on inflation, economic growth, national debt, NHS waiting lists and small boat Channel crossings.
But exactly six months on from when Sunak made his New Year resolutions, the Prime Minister is yet to produce results.
The Conservatives have felt the faltering faith the latest Ipsos polling data, which has Labour at 47 per cent and Conservatives at 25 per cent of the vote, while Deltapoll finds Labour at 48 per cent with Conservatives on 25 per cent.
Amid growing pressure from voters and backbench Conservative MPs, Sunak knows he has work to do if he is to turn around his party's electoral fortunes.
Sunak has managed to avoid a recession
PA1. “We will halve inflation this year to ease the cost of living and give people financial security.”
At the time of Sunak’s pledge in January 2023, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 10.1 per cent.
By May 2023 this figure remained sticky at 8.7 per cent, which was unchanged from April.
While food inflation has come down slightly, though remaining high at 18.3 per cent, economists are concerned about stubbornly high core inflation, which has risen to 7.1 per cent, the highest annual rate increase since March 1992.
The UK employment rate is estimated at 75.9 per cent
PA
2. “We will grow the economy, creating better-paid jobs and opportunity right across the country.”
While the UK has avoided recession so far, the economy grew by just 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2023 according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
According to the OECD, GDP growth is expected to hover around a modest 0.3 per cent growth in 2023.
While UK GDP in Q1 was 0.5 per cent lower than pre-pandemic level, the Eurozone GDP was 2.2 per cent higher than its pre-pandemic level.
The United States, Canada and Japan also all grew faster than the UK.
Scores on the doors on debt for Sunak
PA
3. “We will make sure our national debt is falling so that we can secure the future of public services.”
The UK's net debt has reached £2.6trillion as of the end of May, which is estimated at 100.1 per cent of the UK's entire gross domestic product (GDP), the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has confirmed.
It is the first time the debt-to-GDP ratio has risen above 100 per cent since March 1961.
Government borrowing soared year-on-year to £20billion in May to cope with substantial spending on energy support schemes, inflation-linked payments and interest payments on debt.
Borrowing in May was £10.7billion higher than a year ago and comes in as the second-highest May borrowing since monthly records began in 1993.
Sunak's is struggling to resuscitate the NHS
PA
4. “NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly.”
Waiting list for hospital treatment stood at a record of 7.21 million in January 2023, according to the British Medical Association (BMA).
This has since risen to 7.42 million in April 2023.
Nearly 3.09 million of these patients waiting over 18 weeks and around 371,000 of these patients are waiting over a year for treatment – which is around 292 times as many as in March 2019, before the pandemic began.
Sunak is bearing down on halving small boat crossings
PA
5. “We will pass new laws to stop small boats, making sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed.”
A record 45,728 crossed the English Channel in small boats last year.
As of 18 June, GB News reported that the number of migrants crossing had reached 10,349.
