Sunak took a jet down to London after speaking at the Richmond count. His first stop was CCHQ. Now he speaks one last time as PM…
WATCH LIVE: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers his resignation speech https://t.co/nqrEDYRz7V
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) July 5, 2024
Then off to Buckingham Palace…
UPDATE: Sunak says he will stay on as leader until formal arrangements for his choosing successor are in place.
Read the full text of the speech below:
“When I first stood here as your Prime Minister, I told you the most important task I had was to return stability to our economy. Inflation is back to target, mortgage rates are falling, and growth has returned. We have enhanced our standing in the world, rebuilding relations with allies, leading global efforts to support Ukraine, and becoming the home of a new generation of transformative technologies. Our United Kingdom is stronger too, with the Windsor Framework, devolution restored in Northern Ireland, and our Union strengthened.
I’m proud of those achievements. I believe this country is safer, stronger, and more secure than it was 20 months ago, and it is more prosperous, fairer, and resilient than it was in 2010. Whilst he has been my political opponent, Sir Keir Starmer will shortly become our Prime Minister. In this job, his successes will be all our successes, and I wish him and his family well. Whatever our disagreements in this campaign, he is a decent, public-spirited man whom I respect. He and his family deserve the very best of our understanding as they make the huge transition to their new lives behind this door and as he grapples with this most demanding of jobs in an increasingly unstable world.
I’d like to thank my colleagues, my Cabinet, the Civil Service, especially here in Downing Street, the team at Chequers, my staff at CCHQ, but most of all I’d like to express my gratitude to my wife AA and our beautiful daughters. I can never thank them enough for the sacrifices they have made so that I might serve our country. One of the most remarkable things about Britain is just how unremarkable it is that two generations after my grandparents came here with little, I could become Prime Minister, and that I could watch my two young daughters light the Diwali candles on the steps in Downing Street.
We must hold true to that idea of who we are, that vision of kindness, decency, and tolerance that has always been the British way. This is a difficult day at the end of a number of difficult days, but I leave this job honoured to have been your Prime Minister. This is the best country in the world, and it is thanks entirely to you, the British people, the true source of all our achievements, our strength, and our greatness.
Thank you.”
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”