Sunak: I can look myself in the mirror knowing I’m doing what I believe is right

Rishi Sunak said he has a “clear conscience” knowing that he has worked as hard as he can to do “right for the country”, as the General Election campaign drew to a close.

With opinion polls suggesting the Prime Minister is leading his Conservative Party to defeat, Mr Sunak said he could “look myself in the mirror”.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Mr Sunak issued a warning to would-be Reform UK voters that they would “get the opposite of what they want” if they backed Nigel Farage’s party, because it would “enable a Labour supermajority”.

General Election campaign 2024
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak talks to PA’s David Lynch during a visit to Braishfield Primary School in Romsey, Hampshire (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Mr Sunak said he always sought to “work my socks off to deliver for people and make a difference for them”.

He added: “In terms of how I do this job, I work as hard as I can, I do what I believe is right for the country.

“That ‘clear conscience is the softest pillow’, as my father-in-law says.

“As long as I can look myself in the mirror and know that I am working as hard as I can, doing what I believe is right for the country, that is how I get through, and that is what I believe I am doing.”

General Election campaign 2024
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chatting to a pupil at Braishfield Primary School in Romsey, Hampshire (Jonathan Brady/PA)

He added: “I am someone who has the courage of my convictions, I’m not someone who changes their opinion with the weather, which is what Keir Starmer does.”

In one of his final interviews on the campaign trail, Mr Sunak insisted he was not yet willing to reflect on his time in office.

“This election is still ongoing. This election is ongoing. I am campaigning hard for every vote,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr Farage’s Reform UK is polling narrowly behind the Conservatives in third place in most national opinion polls.

General Election campaign 2024
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited the school on the last day of campaigning (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Asked what his party’s post-election response to their narrow lead over Reform should be, Mr Sunak insisted he remained focused solely on polling day itself.

Speaking at a primary school in Hampshire, he said: “You have had a very clear message from me to those people about what I think they should be thinking about, because they will get the precise opposite of what they want if they vote Reform.

“I know that might strike them as unfair, but that is the system that we have.”

He reiterated that a Tory return to office would lead to tax cuts, protected public pensions, a “sensible approach” to net zero, and secure borders.

He added: “If those are the things that you value and you want, then you have to vote Conservative to get them.

“If you don’t you are just going to enable a Labour supermajority which is going to deliver the precise opposite of what you want.”