NHS at top of Sunak's priority list

The United Kingdom's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to cut National Health Service (NHS) waiting lists as he made a new year speech on Wednesday.

It is one of five promises made by Sunak as part of his vision for the country in 2023, at a time when the country is facing challenges from a series of winter strikes and the cost of living crisis.

The promise list also includes halving inflation, growing the economy and creating better-paid jobs, ensuring national debt is falling, and passing new laws to stop small migrant boats crossing the English Channel.

Sunak said the government is taking urgent action to deal with pressure on the NHS, including increasing bed capacity, providing new funding for social care to free up beds, and working on further plans for accident and emergency units and ambulances.

On the topic of strikes in the healthcare sector, Sunak said the government "hugely values public sector workers" and wants "a reasonable dialogue with the unions about what's responsible and fair for our country".

But he said that the 19 percent pay rise asked for by nurses' unions is not affordable.

On immigration, the PM said he will tackle the number of migrants arriving in small boats.

"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," he explained.

On the economy, Sunak pledged to halve the country's inflation this year, to ease the cost of living crisis and give people more financial security.

He also stressed the country must innovate in AI and green technology by increasing public funding in research and development to 20 billion pounds ($21.4 billion), and seize the opportunities of Brexit to ensure the regulatory system is agile and pro-innovation.

Sunak said his five promises are the "people's priorities", and the government will "either have achieved them or not".

"We will rebuild trust in politics through action, or not at all. So, I ask you to judge us on the effort we put in and the results we achieve," said Sunak.

Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith welcomed Sunak's speech, saying he has "the right agenda", according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

He also said he was pleased Sunak has recognized the importance of supporting families.

"However he knows he'll be judged on sorting out the chaos of illegal asylum seekers; sorting out NHS/Social Care and that taxes must come down to grow the economy," he tweeted. "This is the right agenda, now we must deliver."

Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, took a very different view.

Sunak's pledges will have left voters unconvinced over the NHS crisis, the Telegraph quoted him as saying, adding that Sunak had "no overall plan to take the pressure of our doctors and our nurses".

"There will be families who are really suffering tragedies due to the Conservatives' failure on the NHS, and I'm deeply disappointed the Prime Minister had no answers today," Davey told Sky News, according to reports from the Telegraph.