Rishi Sunak has refused to accept the government’s failure to strike a trade deal with the US is a “broken promise”, blaming the pandemic and war in Ukraine on the “changing situation”.

During a visit to the US, the prime minister was asked if he accepted “as a matter of fact” the Conservatives have not met their 2019 manifesto ambition to strike a deal with Washington within the first three years of government.

He said: “I think you have to look at the macro economic situation. It’s evolved since then and it’s important the economic partnerships evolved to deal with the opportunities and threats of today.

“If you look at what’s happening now, we face more threats of our economic security. So it’s important that actually the UK and the US are talking about how do we strengthen our resilience, working together, improve the strength of our supply chains.”

Mr Sunak was pressed that this is still a “broken promise”.

He said: “Since then we’ve had a pandemic. We’ve had a war in Ukraine and that has changed the macro economic situation.

“The right response to that is ensure that we’re focusing our engagement economically on the things that will make the most difference to the British people.”

You May Also Like

Man arrested after four dismembered bodies found in river

A man has been arrested in Florida after the bodies of four…

Taliban kill Islamic State leader who masterminded airport bombing that left 13 US service members dead

The Tailban have killed an Islamic State group leader who masterminded the…

US jail reaches resolution with around 100 prisoners who refused to return to cells

A US jail has been placed under an emergency lockdown after about…

Before and after the storm: Satellite pictures show extent of US tornado destruction

The extent of the destruction caused by a series of tornadoes that…