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Rishi Sunak vows to put ‘stability’, ‘competence’ at heart of government as Britain’s new prime minister
- At 42, Sunak is Britain’s youngest prime minister in more than two centuries and first British-Asian prime minister
- Sunak, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, must navigate a cost-of-living crisis and regain the confidence of financial markets
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Chad Brayin London
Rishi Sunak, Britain’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer, vowed to put “economic stability” and “competence” at the heart of his new government as he became the nation’s youngest prime minister in more than two centuries on Tuesday.
Sunak, 42, was asked to form a government on Tuesday by King Charles after he was named the new leader of the Conservative Party the day before.
He succeeds Liz Truss, who was forced to resign last week following a chaotic premiership that saw her economic policies – namely a move to slash taxes by their largest amount in 5o years – unnerve markets and send the pound to its lowest level against the dollar in a half-century last month.
She is Britain’s shortest serving prime minister at 49 days.
“She was not wrong to want to improve growth in this country, it is a noble aim. And, I admired her restlessness to create change,” Sunak said. “Some mistakes were made -not borne of ill will or bad intentions, quite the opposite, in fact. But, mistakes nonetheless. I have been elected as leader of my party and your prime minister in part to fix them. That work begins immediately.
“This will mean difficult decisions to come,” he added.
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