'We're on the side of hard working British families' Rishi Sunak full interview

Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, has told Times Radio that he can't solve every problem but the government is on the side of hard working British families.

Thank you for acknowledging it's not the easiest job in the world. I can't, you know, I've always been honest with people that it's difficult for me to, to, solve every problem or to fully make the challenges go away. But what we can do is put more money in people's pockets, make a difference where we can, that's what yesterday's tax plan delivers, and it will help our working British families, weather some of the challenges ahead.

Responding to a question from former nurse, cancer support worker Maggie, he told Aasmah Mir and Stig Abell on Times Radio Breakfast, he said that the poor should judge him by his actions

You can judge me by my actions over the past a couple of years. I mean, when we had a pandemic, and almost two years to the day yesterday, we entered a national lockdown. You know, I also was the chancellor that put in place the furlough scheme to help the country get through it made sure that we had support for, for, councils, for schools, for businesses, and of course, the NHS and, I think she said Maggie was an NHS nurse, and we provided record sums to support the NHS and help them get through the crisis. And it's partly because of all of that, and the damage that Coronavirus did to our economy that we have had to take some difficult decisions now to correct things going forward...I can't in this job do absolutely everything that everyone wants me to do it's the toughest part of this job, but where we can make a difference, that's what I will do. And yesterday, you know, we really did demonstrate that we're on the side of hard working British families and try and help them get through what are going to be some challenging months ahead.

---

Times Radio brings you the latest breaking news, expert analysis and well-informed discussion on the biggest stories of the day, delivered with warmth, expertise and balance.

Subscribe here

We are the UK's newest digital news radio station, bringing together the peerless journalistic expertise of The Times and The Sunday Times with the world-class speech radio and podcasting experience of Wireless.