Everything to play for if PM provides red meat policies

EXPRESS readers got the opportunity to quiz the Prime Minister in No 10 this week and he made it clear he wants to get Britons back to work and restore pride in our battered country.

- Tim Newark

There's no doubting Rishi Sunak's passion for our nation, which stems from the "special" welcome given to his own parents arriving from East Africa in the 1960s.

Hard work was key to their success and Rishi wants to replicate that spirit across the UK.

"I always say work is something I believe in," the PM told our readers group. "It gives you purpose, dignity and fulfilment in life, so we should really want people to be working." Sadly, at the moment, this is not the case for too many of us.

Some 5.6 million Britons are claiming out-of-work benefits, while the number not working due to sickness is at a record high of 2.8 million.

A £2.5billion Back to Work plan is intended to encourage a million such people currently signed off sick back into the workforce. It seems evident that many people got into bad habits during the pandemic lockdowns, expecting the Government to pay them to stay at home in perpetuity. This is simply not sustainable.