Politics

People think Rishi Sunak is trolling Liz Truss with his maths comments

People think Rishi Sunak is trolling Liz Truss with his maths comments

Related video: Rishi Sunak says Tories should ‘welcome’ former PM Boris Johnson in public life

Conservative House

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will today make further comments on the subject of maths, as he continues working on his plan to have all pupils in England study some form of mathematics up to the age of 18 to tackle an “anti-maths mindset”.

In a speech to students, teachers, education experts and business leaders in north London, Mr Sunak will take aim at a “cultural sense that it’s OK to be bad at maths”.

He is expected to say: “We’ve got to start prizing numeracy for what it is – a key skill every bit as essential as reading.

“I won’t sit back and allow this cultural sense that it’s OK to be bad at maths to put our children at a disadvantage.

“My campaign to transform our national approach to maths is not some nice-to-have; it’s about changing how we value maths in this country.”

This follows remarks made by the Conservative leader back in January when he said he sees “no reason why we cannot rival the best education systems in the world”.

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Mr Sunak’s comments back then weren’t well-received by many Twitter users, and they still aren’t now, with some wondering if this latest policy push is a dig at his predecessor Liz Truss:

Ms Truss, of course, is now infamous for her calamitous ‘mini-budget’ – one which crashed the pound, forced the Bank of England to buy emergency government bonds in a bid to stabilise the economy, and ultimately led to her becoming the UK’s shorting serving prime minister after just 49 days in office.

In February, the ex-PM blamed the “left-wing economic establishment” for her short tenure, and then just last week she gave a speech to the US think tank The Heritage Foundation in which she claimed "stagnation, redistributionism and woke culture" have been "taking hold in businesses and the economy in the UK and the US".

She said: "Last autumn I had a major setback, but I care too much to give up on this agenda, I think it is too important and I know there are others who care too."

“Major setback”, of course, being a perfectly fine way to describe a reckless policy which triggered an economic crisis, Liz!

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