Sunak vows to serve full term as MP even if he loses election

Rishi Sunak attending the G7 summit - Guglielmo Mangiapane

Rishi Sunak has vowed to serve a full five-year term as prime minister if he wins – and the full five years as an MP if he loses.

Speaking in southern Italy, where he was taking part in the G7 summit, he also ruled out any change in his campaign tactics.

It comes after a poll found that Reform UK is now above the Conservatives.

The YouGov survey said the Tories were on 18 per cent, with Mr Farage’s party on 19 per cent.

Asked if he would serve a full five years as prime minister if he wins and as MP if he does not, he said: “Yes and yes.”

Asked if there were any late changes planned to his campaigning style, the prime minister said he would not – because he had to highlight how Labour and the Tories differed on tax.

He said: “No, we’re out and about, and it’s really good that both manifestos are out now because it’s really clear what the choice is at the election.

“I think you can see that most clearly on tax: if I am re-elected there will be a tax cut for people at every stage of their lives – everyone in work, everyone who is setting up a small business or self-employed, young people who are buying their first home, young families with children, but also pensioners.

“People at every stage of their lives are going to get a tax cut, because I do think you can curb the unsustainable increase in the welfare bill, and that I think is the right choice for the country and in contrast Labour are just going to put up your taxes.

“And as you saw over the past few days, they just can’t tell people unequivocally that they are not going to do that and the analysis shows that they’ll raise the tax burden to the highest levels that this country has seen in our history.

“I know in the past people were quite focussed on the tax burden, so I am sure you’ll be quite focussed on that too!”

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