'Striking absence': Rishi Sunak makes no mention of walk-outs sweeping the UK as he addresses the country

11 January 2023, 20:27 | Updated: 11 January 2023, 20:30

Rishi Sunak has vowed to get the NHS back on track in his first broadcast to the nation as Prime Minister, but did not mention the strikes that have swept the UK for much of the past few months.

On the day when tens of thousands of ambulance workers went on strike, and 100,000 civil servants said they would walk out, Mr Sunak did not address the widespread unrest among public sector employees over salaries being eroded by inflation.

He talked instead about the problems facing the health service, which he blamed on Covid, although waiting lists were already long before the pandemic.

Mr Sunak also discussed curbing the waves of small boats that have brought tens of thousands of migrants on the perilous journey across the English Channel.

The Prime Minister also talked up the "difficult decisions" he had taken to get debt and spending under control.

"Our country faces some of the biggest challenges any of us will have seen in our lifetimes, with our economy, in our NHS on our borders," Mr Sunak said in the clip, which was first broadcast on ITV.

"Covid has done huge harm to the NHS.

"It's created massive backlogs, which we're working through, but Britain's heroic response to Covid shows that where the political will exists to really grip a problem we can bring everyone together and achieve the unthinkable.

"That takes leadership so I've immediately set in train a new approach and taken the best of our experience from fighting Covid to reduce NHS backlogs and get patients treated quicker...

"I'm determined to get the number of people on waiting lists falling and I will not let you down."

Addressing illegal migration, Mr Sunak said in the pre-recorded video: "We're taking decisive action already, deploying hundreds of new agents to tackle immigration criminals, putting an end to the appalling situation where taxpayers are paying to keep illegal migrants in hotels.

"And we're introducing new laws that make it unambiguously clear that if you come to our country illegally, you will not have the right to stay and will be removed.

"Britain will always be a place for global talent and those in dire need. But basic human decency must be accompanied by hard-headed common sense."

In the clip, set to dramatic music, the Prime Minister also touted the "difficult but fair decisions" he had taken to get borrowing and debt under control.

He reiterated some of the five priorities announced in his new year's speech last week, halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt, cutting NHS waiting lists and stopping small boat Channel crossings.

Mr Sunak's comments on the health service come after he admitted using private healthcare, as well as being registered with an NHS GP.