London: The UK’s international reputation has taken “a bit of a knock” this year, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, as he vowed to restore economic stability.
In an interview with the BBC on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Sunak said tax rises and spending cuts in the recent Autumn Statement were needed to reduce rising inflation and UK public debt. But he promised the decisions would be taken in a “fair” way, and everyone would benefit from reduced debt levels.
“Obviously our international reputation took a bit of a knock as a result of some of the things that happened more recently,” he told the BBC.
“Even though the situation is difficult…we will make those decisions balancing everything we have to. People can see that yes, the approach we’ve taken is fair, and yes the approach we’ve taken is compassionate when considered in the round. Taking a step back, the number one challenge we face is inflation. It’s important that we get a grip on that. It’s important we limit the increase in mortgage rates that people are experiencing,” he said.
While admitting mistakes were made in recent months under his predecessor Liz Truss, he refused to apologize for the economic turmoil caused by the Conservative Party-led government.
“What I want to do now is fix them,” he told ‘Sky News’ when repeatedly asked to apologize for the disastrous mini-budget dubbed “Trussonomics”.
