LONDON (AA) – The year 2022 was “tough” and the UK’s problems will not “go away” in 2023, said the country’s prime minister on Saturday in his New Year’s video message.

Rishi Sunak said the government has taken “difficult but fair” decisions to “get borrowing and debt under control.”

“Just as we recovered from an unprecedented global pandemic, Russia launched a barbaric and illegal invasion across Ukraine. This has had a profound economic impact around the world, which the UK is not immune to. Now, I know many of you have felt that impact at home,” he added.

The UK government, he said, has been able to help the most vulnerable with the rising cost of energy bills, pledging that his government would put “people’s priorities first.”

Sunak also said he had taken decisive action to diminish the backlog in the National Health Service and was tackling illegal migration.

“The 2023 will give us an opportunity to showcase the very best of Britain on the world stage, continuing to stand with our Ukrainian friends against Putin’s brutality, and defending freedom and democracy, wherever we find is under threat,” he concluded.