Don’t start a victory lap yet, Keir, you’ve got problems of your own

Yes, another of Rishi Sunak’s five pledges looks set to be broken, writes John Rentoul, but his money trouble may soon become Starmer’s problem. And when it comes to reducing debt, neither party is being straight with voters

Rishi Sunak unveils his ‘five key priorities for 2023’ on 4 January (PA Wire)

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Rishi Sunak, a new prime minister taking over after his party had made an absolute hash of getting rid of Boris Johnson, sought to focus attention on basic competence in delivering the people’s priorities.

So he made five New-Labour-style promises on 4 January, so that people could decide by the end of the year that he had done a good job, and he could go into the election year with confidence.

It hasn’t worked out like that. This morning’s public finance figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest that the chances of fulfilling the third promise, “reduce debt”, are a toss-up.