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Sunak tells Welsh Tories economy is producing ‘green shoots’ of recovery

The Prime Minister spoke at the Welsh Conservative Conference in Llandudno on Friday.

George Thompson
Friday 23 February 2024 16:36 GMT
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech at the Welsh Conservatives Conference (Peter Byrne/PA)
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech at the Welsh Conservatives Conference (Peter Byrne/PA) (PA Wire)

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The public are seeing the “green shoots” of the economy improving, the Prime Minister has said.

Speaking at the Welsh Conservative Conference in Llandudno on Friday, Rishi Sunak said the public are “feeling that the economy has turned the corner”, adding: “Things are getting better.”

The Prime Minister said: “There is a palpable sense out there, regardless of what Keir Starmer might want to say because he’s always keen to talk down Britain, I can tell actually on the ground people are, since the beginning of this year, feeling that the economy has turned the corner.

“They do see those green shoots. They can see that things are getting better.

Inflation has been more than halved, mortgage rates starting to come down, wages have been rising for six, seven months in a row now.

“We just saw today… energy bills significantly down. Consumer confidence, business confidence, again, a survey out yesterday, highest it’s been in years.

“Businesses like yours feeling better about the future and that is why it is so important that we stick to our plan.”

Mr Sunak spoke at Venue Cymru to a well-attended hall of Conservative members.

The Prime Minister flew to Wales by plane, Downing Street said.

Mr Sunak was introduced to the stage by David TC Davies, the Secretary of State for Wales.

Mr Davies praised growth in the economy since Brexit and when Mr Sunak took over as Conservative leader in 2022, saying it has grown faster than Germany and Japan.

The Cabinet minister also insisted the party could win both Parliament and the Senedd at their next elections, dismissing opinion polls which put the Conservatives behind Labour nationally and insisting that the people he speaks to on the doorstep in Wales are“fed up with this Welsh Labour government”.

He said: “You may well think, ladies and gentlemen, that I’m being a little bit ambitious here, because there are one or two naysayers in the press and in the other political parties – and dare I say even one or two in our own party – that are telling us that the Conservative Party could never do it.

“They tell us we’re finished, that we can’t win.

“Let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, I will have absolutely none of it.”

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