Sunak says fall in inflation ‘very good news’, and that economic stability could lead to Tory tax cutsThe LBC phone-in with Rishi Sunak is starting. Nick Ferrari is presenting.Ferrari starts by asking about the inflation figures.Sunak says this is “very good news”. The govenment stuck to its plans, he says. He has restored economic stability. And as a result he has been able to start cutting taxes, he says.ShareKey eventsQ: Do you have a message for Boris Johnson on his 60th birthday?Sunak says he does, “Happy Birthday”. It is great to have him supporting Tory candidates.Ferrari asks if there is anything he admires about Keir Starmer.Sunak says these jobs take a toll on family. He thinks Starmer is good at making time for his family, he says.And that’s it.ShareThe final caller asks why Sunak made a joke about his sugar consumption when sugar is a serious problem, responsible for an increase in child tooth decay.Sunak says he will not apologise for eating Twixes.ShareQ: The number of food banks has increased hugley since 2010. I work with people how are hungry every day. Given you are richer than the king, how can you relate to the people who need them.Sunak says he is grateful to people who support food banks. But he wants to bring down the need for food banks, and reduce the number of them.Ferrari asks what practical measures he would propose to ensure that.Sunak says he wants people to have good job.The caller says it is an “asbolute lie” for Sunak to say he supported people during Covid.Q: Do you accept you are rich?Yes, says Sunak. He has been very fortunate. But he is not going to apologise for that, he says. He says his parents worked hard to give him opportunities.Ferrari asks about how he can relate, and asks about an expensive coat Sunak was reportedly wearing on a campaign visit.Sunak says he does not know what Ferrari is talking about. No one has asked about his clothing, he says.ShareQ: You have failed to get any asylum seekers to Rwanda.Sunak says he is the only candidate with a plan. He claims, over the past year, small boat numbers are down. (Ferrari points out that the arrival numbers for 2024 are up.) There is a real choice at the election, he says.Q: Why could you not get a flight leaving earlier?Sunak says it took time to get the legislation through parliament.ShareFerrari asks about a poll saying, if people had to have someone as GP, they would choose Keir Starmer over Sunak by 60% to 40%.Sunak jokes that would be a disappointment to his GP dad.Ferrari says the poll produced similar figures when asked who they would choose as a lawyer.ShareThe next caller, Olivia, is a junior doctor who has been on strike. Why have you not made any progress?Sunak says the government has reached agreements with other health workers. It is frustrating that they have not been able to reach a deal with the junior doctors.Olivia says what Sunak said is not technically true. The nurses are still in dispute over pay; it is just they have suspended strikes. Junior doctors are not the only people in the workforce still in dispute, or unhappy.Sunak says the junior doctors want a 35% pay rise. He says that is not fair, and he won’t put up taxes to pay for it.ShareLBC plays a clip from Figen Murray asking why Sunak has not kept his promise to bring in “Martyn’s law” in honour of her son, one of the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing. It would require venues to have better security measures.Sunak confirms he met Murray before he called the election. He said he told her they would pass the law before the summer recess and he says that is still his intention, if they win the election.ShareThe next caller is a gay man with HIV. He says Sunak has never spoken up for gay righs, and he has behaved disgracefully with regard to trans people. He calls him a “pound-shop Nigel Farage”.Sunak says he is sorry the caller feels that way. He says he wants people to be treated with compassion. He says the Tories brought in same sex marriage, and he would have voted for that if he had been in parliament at the time.He says he does not wear LGBT ribbons. But he does not wear ribbons for any cause, except poppies for poppy day.On trans, he says he believes in protecting same-sex spaces.The caller says Sunak did not vote for same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.Sunak says he cannot recall why. It may have been a constitutional matter. But he backs same sex marriage, he says.Asked about his anti-trans joke when the mother of Brianna Ghey was in the Commons, Sunak says he was not being disrespectul. He was making a point about Keir Starmer.ShareQ: Will your resignation honours list continue the tradition of a a PM stuffing the Lords with cronies. Will you put people of integrity in there instead, like Alan Bates and Harvey Proctor?Sunak says he broadly agrees with the caller. He says candidates get vetted for the Lords, and he always accepts their recommendations.ShareQ: How can you win an election when you could not even win a vote in your own party?That is a reference to Liz Truss beating him in the Tory leadership contest in 2022.Sunak says he did lose to Truss, but he was right in what he said about her plans.
I was right in that Liz Truss election and I’m right about the economy now.
ShareQ: Waiting lists went up in April? But there was no industrial action then. So you cannot blame strikes, can you? Your plan is not working.Sunak says there will always by monthly variation.During the pandemic 6m referrals did not happen. So it will take a long time to bring waiting lists down, he says.ShareQ: Why has the NHS gone from five stars to one stars?The caller has breast cancer, and, when Ferrari asks, she says her treatment has been horrible. She claims what is happening in the NHS is frightening. If she had known how bad it would be, she would have gone private.Sunak says how sorry he is about what the caller has gone through.It has been difficult, he says. The caller got her diagnosis during the pandemic. That made a difference, he says.He talks about breast cancer measures being implement. Community diagnostic centres are opening. And the government is hiring more oncologists.The NHS now has a long-term workforce plan, he says.Q: But what about conditions in the hospital you were in?The caller says it was a London hospital. She says she could not have a shower because there was no lock on the door. And there were no staff. If she needed someone, just an auxiliary came.Ferrari asks about a story in the Telegraph saying the UK is 20 years behind Europe on cancer care.Sunak says he has not seen the story.Ferrari says he should have been briefed on it. Sunak says he has not seen the details.Q: How does that make you feel?More determined to improve things, Sunak says.Share