Rishi Sunak’s first year as Prime Minister in pictures and the five biggest challenges ahead
RISHI Sunak today marks one year in No10.
But while his time in Downing Street is 316 days greater than predecessor Liz Truss, it's been far from smooth sailing.
Over the last year the PM has bagged a series of impressive wins, including a fresh Brexit deal, free trade agreements and success in the Uxbridge by-election.
However, there are huge challenges ahead.
With just over a year until a general election has to take place, Mr Sunak is trailing far behind Labour's Sir Keir Starmer in the polls.
A survey carried out this week by Redfield & Wilton Strategies puts the PM's approval rating at -14%, while Sir Keir is sitting on +11%.
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Meanwhile, 44% of the public say they will vote Labour while just 26% intend to go Conservative.
A year is a long time in politics - let alone one day or even an hour.
The PM's biggest backers believe he can still turn things around.
But the mountain ahead is very steep.
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Some Tory MPs have already given up hope of retaining their seat at the next election and have started looking for new jobs.
Commenting on the PM's one year anniversary, Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Paymaster General, said: “The past year has seen weak Rishi Sunak pushed around by a chaotic and divided Conservative Party, allowed Liz Truss to dictate government policy, and hopelessly failed to deliver for struggling working families paying more on their mortgage thanks to the Tories.
"Inaction man Sunak simply isn't strong enough to turn Britain's fortunes around after 13 years of Conservative decline."
But Conservative Party Chairman Greg Hands MP said: “When Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister a year ago today, he took immediate action to support families with the cost of living, paying half their energy bills.
"Since then we have made good progress towards halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt, cutting NHS waiting lists, and stopping the boats.
"But for the last 30 years, the Prime Minister recognises that there has been too much short-term political decision making, politicians taking the easy way out, ducking the hard choices, rather than fixing the underlying problems.
"The Prime Minister has proven he is the only person who is determined to change that – compared to Sir Keir Starmer, who has a proven track record of taking the easy way out and changing his mind when it suits him.
"There’s more to do, but this Conservative Government is the only party that will keep taking the long-term action needed so we can change our country for the better and ensure a brighter future for every hardworking family."
Here we take a look back at Mr Sunak's biggest achievements to date, and forward to the hurdles he will need to overcome.
Rishi's big wins
The Windsor Framework Brexit deal
One of the PM's first major achievements was agreeing a fresh Brexit deal with EU chiefs.
The Windsor Framework, signed in February this year, finally put an end to months of negotiations between Brussels and Westminster over the trade crisis in Northern Ireland.
The deal sailed through - winning by 515 votes to 29.
A feared backbench revolt led by Boris Johnson and Liz Truss failed to take off.
The historic stopped the so-called “sausage wars” that saw two years of border chaos over goods and trade.
EU red tape that hampered meats, sarnies, parcels and even seed potatoes being exported from mainland Britain were abolished in a major win for the UK.
Goods can now freely flow into the province from the mainland unrestricted, with Northern Ireland brought back under Westminster’s tax and VAT regime.
Ministers claim less that three per cent of EU law now applies to the Province and only targets any goods and products destined for sale in the EU’s Single Market via the Republic of Ireland.
CPTPP trade deal
Another of Mr Sunak's big wins was signing Britain up to the CPTPP trade block in July.
We were only able to join the booming trade alliance because we left the EU.
The UK will now be able to sell more whisky into the booming Asia market thanks to zero tariffs, while it also paves the way for Brits to get cheaper chocolate and tequila from Mexico.
The CPTPP covers Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan.
Ministers said the trading bloc is of huge economic importance to Britain because the countries in it are growing.
The deal was a rare piece of economic good news for the country.
Uxbridge by-election
Despite dismal polling, Mr Sunak was able to defy the odds and lead the Tories to victory at the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election.
In a major blow to Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Sunak's anti-Ulez stance helped Tory candidate Steve Tuckwell claim victory after BoJo stepped down.
Mr Tuckwell, who "wasn't expecting to win this election", described how the "number one message" on doorsteps was "absolute opposition to the expansion of Ulez".
A Labour row quickly kicked off as Deputy Leader Angela Rayner broke ranks to admit "when you don't listen to the voters, you don't win elections".
International relations
The PM has won plaudits across the globe for his work as Britain's chief statesman.
Throughout the horrific Israel-Hamas war, Mr Sunak has held talks with key players including Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.
Where US President Joe Biden was snubbed, the PM had face-to-face conversations with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
In Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has praised the PM for his steadfast support against evil tyrant Mad Vlad Putin.
And in France Mr Sunak was able to repair relations with President Emmanuel Macron.
Ms Truss strained ties between Britain and France after refusing to say whether she believed Mr Macron was a "friend or foe" in an interview.
In March the PM shook hands and smiled beside the President in the Elysee Palace as he announced Britain will pay France £478 million to help stop small boat crossings.
Mr Macron agreed to deploy 500 more cops on beaches where dangerous channel crossings start.
And the President announced the opening of a new detention centre to help French Border Force cope with the masses of migrants being trafficked by evil people smugglers.
In return for the half a billion pounds, France will also form a new, highly trained and permanent mobile policing unit dedicated to illegal migration.
Net Zero
In September Mr Sunak was rewarded with a three point bounce in the polls after rowing back on expensive green policies.
The PM said he is wholeheartedly committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050.
But he added that cannot come at a crippling cost to hard-up homes.
To relieve the green financial burden on Brits, Mr Sunak delayed the hated ban on new petrol and diesel cars by five years to 2035.
He announced that the deadline to replace boilers with £10,000 heat pumps will be postponed.
And "no strings attached" subsidies to purchase new eco-heaters will double to £7,500.
The PM also vowed that households will never be forced to use seven different bins and won't be taxed for eating meat or flying.
Mr Sunak heaped praise on The Sun for pleading with ministers not to force unaffordable green transition costs on hard-up households.
The challenges ahead
Tory brand
A huge challenge the PM faces ahead of the next general election is reviving the Tory brand.
Polling shows that the public place significant levels of blame for poor public services and a weak economy on the Conservatives' time in government.
At Tory conference the PM did his best to separate himself and his party from the legacies of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
He vowed to break with the past and "do politics differently".
But the strong messaging had limited public cut through and the PM failed to achieve a post-conference bounce.
Now, many backbenchers are jittery and small few have even submitted "no confidence" letters to 1922 committee chief Sir Graham Brady.
If restoring the Tory brand wasn't a tough enough job already, it's been made a lot harder by restless and disunited MPs.
Illegal migration
Weeks after entering No.10, the PM announced five pledges by which to judge his leadership.
One of those was stopping the boats.
The constant of arrival of illegal migrants has sparked uproar among the public and MPs across the Commons.
While Mr Sunak has put in a huge effort to end the scandal, so far his plans haven't worked.
More than 20,000 migrants have crossed the channel this year alone.
And the taxpayer bill for asylum hotels has hit £8m per day.
While migrants are at least back living on the Bibby Stockholm barge, the Rwanda deportation scheme is still stuck in the courts.
Next month England's highest judicial body, the Supreme Court, will make a final ruling on whether the scheme is lawful.
If judges find in favour of lefty lawyers working against the Home Office, Mr Sunak will have a huge challenge trying to come up with an alternative deterrence plan.
Inflation nation, interest rates and taxes
Another of the PM's five pledges was to halve inflation by the end of the year.
While the rate has come down considerably since it stood at 11.1% in October 2022, there's still a way to go.
Tough economic conditions left inflation stuck at 6.7 percent in September, the same as in August.
With soaring inflation has also come sky high interest rates.
In August the Bank of England set the base rate to a whopping 5.25% and it has stayed the same since.
The expensive cost of borrowing has left many households fearing they won't be able to pay off their mortgage.
Labour has seized on the issue, accusing Mr Sunak of creating a "Tory mortgage crisis".
Alongside spiralling prices the PM is battling increasingly loud calls to slash taxes.
With the tax burden at its highest since the Second World War backbenchers have slammed Mr Sunak for being fiscally "un-Conservative".
The PM and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt say rates can't be cut until inflation comes down further.
But whether that line holds ahead of a General Election remains to be seen.
NHS waiting times
Cutting mega NHS waiting times was a third of the PM's five pledges.
But there's been no progress on the issue - and if anything queues have grown.
There are 7.75 MILLION people waiting for treatment in England.
Some are even waiting up to two-and-a-half years for important diagnostic tests such as ultrasound, MRI and CT scans.
Housing
A big problem staring Mr Sunak in the face is housing.
Property prices surged last year due to a rise in demand at the end of the stamp duty holiday.
Property prices also came under immense pressure after mortgage rates shot up following the disastrous mini-Budget a year ago and amid soaring inflation, which sat at 11.1% last October.
There's are huge issues with housing supply and demand too.
A lack of stock has left renters paying eye-watering amounts for dingy dwellings.
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And England's archaic planning system has left developers unable to build the number of homes the public needs at speed.
