Tag: Rishi Sunak

The Liberal Democrats branded the expenses as a “shocking waste of taxpayers’ money” during the cost-of-living crisis…reports Asian Lite News

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spent more than €500,000 of taxpayers’ money on private jets in just over a week last year, according to The Guardian.

The UK government spent just under €108,000 on private jet travel for Rishi Sunak’s attendance at the COP27 summit in Egypt, flying in on 6 November and returning the following day, the newspaper said. A week later, he set off on a round trip to the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, at a cost of over €340,000.

Sunak’s Latvia and Estonia trip in December incurred travel costs of €62,498, with personal costs of €2,500, The Guardian report said.

The Liberal Democrats branded the expenses as a “shocking waste of taxpayers’ money” during the cost-of-living crisis.

“This is a shocking waste of taxpayers’ money at a time when people are struggling to pay their bills. Yet again this Conservative government is completely out of touch,” the tweet said.

The Downing Street said Sunak’s travel was for “vital meetings with world leaders”. “The role of the Prime Minister includes holding vital meetings with world leaders during bilateral visits and summits to discuss issues of international importance – including security, defence and trade,” a government spokesperson said.

The UK’s Opposition parties are also piling on the pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over a recent Budget policy that could allegedly benefit his wife, Akshata Murty, through her business interest in a childcare firm.

Akshata Murty, the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, is listed as a shareholder in Koru Kids Ltd which is likely to benefit from a new pilot scheme announced in the Spring Budget earlier this month to incentivise people to become childminders.

While 10 Downing Street has stated that Prime Minister Sunak had followed the UK’s ministerial code on the matter, the Opposition has called for further explanations.

The plane is painted with a union flag tail fin, and is a de facto equivalent to the official aircraft used by some other world leaders.

Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrats’ energy and climate spokesperson, said: “This is a shocking waste of taxpayers’ money at a time when people are struggling to pay their bills. Yet again this Conservative government is completely out of touch.

“The government can pretend to care about a greener future with their so-called ‘green day’ but the reality is they are trashing their own promises.”

The Cabinet Office costings document shows nearly another £20,000 was spent on other costs for the prime ministers, including accommodation, meals and visas.

This does not include the costs for officials who also went on the trips. The delegations varied in size from the 19 who accompanied Truss to Prague to the 35 who joined Sunak in Bali.

Some prime ministerial flights, for example those to and from Bali, also carry members of the travelling UK press, who pay for the flights.

A Downing Street spokesperson defended the flights. They said: “The role of the prime minister includes holding vital meetings with world leaders during bilateral visits and summits to discuss issues of international importance – including security, defence and trade.”

Meanwhile, Opposition parties are piling on the pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over a recent Budget policy that could allegedly benefit his wife, Akshata Murty, through her business interest in a childcare firm.

Akshata Murty, the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, is listed as a shareholder in Koru Kids Ltd which is likely to benefit from a new pilot scheme announced in the Spring Budget earlier this month to incentivise people to become childminders.

While 10 Downing Street has stated that Prime Minister Sunak had followed the UK’s ministerial code on the matter, the Opposition has called for further explanations.

“There are serious questions for Rishi Sunak to answer over any potential conflict of interest, and any extra income his family could receive from his own government’s policy,” said Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain, who has called on the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests Sir Laurie Magnus to investigate.

First reported by the ‘i’ newspaper, the UK’s Companies House register lists Ms Murty as a shareholder in Koru Kids – one of six childminder agencies in England listed on the government’s website with contact details.

Labour’s Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, said Prime Minister Sunak must explain why he failed to “come clean” about the shares his family held in a company now set to financially benefit from a childcare policy announced in his Budget, when queried during a parliamentary session of the Liaison Committee earlier this week.

“He must urgently correct the record and set out what steps he took to avoid an actual or perceived conflict of interest. No proper explanation has yet been provided by the Prime Minister as to why this was not deemed necessary to publish in the register of members’ interests,” she said.

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More crucially, Conservative MPs with majorities of less than 10,000 votes fear Sunak cannot help them retain their seats…writes Ashis Ray

As the incumbent British Prime Minister has completed 100 days in office, The Times, a centre-right daily, headlined: “How Rishi Sunak’s first 100 days as PM have been shaped by strikes and scandals.”

The leftist Guardian’s heading was: “Ratings sink and obstacles amass as Sunak completes first 100 days as PM.”

The left-of-centre Independent highlighted: “Scandals, sackings and U-turns: Rishi Sunak’s first 100 days in the job.”

But most damaging of all, the right-wing pro ruling Conservative party Daily Mail bemoaned: “Rishi Sunak mocked for “migraine-inducing” new video to mark his first 100 days in office.”

Finally, YouGov, a polling agency, extrapolating from data gathered by it, gave its verdict as: “100 days in, Rishi Sunak’s rating are lacklustre and he has failed to salvage the Tory (Conservative) brand.”

It went on to say: “During (Sunak’s predecessor) Liz Truss’s time as Prime Minister the Conservatives plummeted in the headline voting intention polls, with (the main opposition) Labour (party) taking the largest lead over the party — 33 points — since YouGov was founded in 2000.

“Since Sunak has taken over, the polls have stabilised and the Labour lead has narrowed, but nevertheless a significant gap of 20 points remains.”

On the Sunak’s personal rating, YouGov assessed: “The Prime Minister’s personal favourability rating is comparatively better than those of his predecessors, sitting at -29 compared to Boris Johnson’s final score of -40 and Truss’s rock bottom -70.”

More worryingly for the Prime Minister though, the pollster underlined: “Sunak is increasingly seen as a bad Prime Minister, with 56 per cent of Britons saying so as of late January.”

Only 22 per cent of his compatriots would choose him over the opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.

The Mail’s view was: “Mr Sunak’s video attracted a predictably poor reception on social media…”

He is about to lose his third cabinet colleague in as the Guardian put it in “ignoble circumstances” — deputy prime minister Dominic Raab — thereby reflecting an ill-judged choice of ministers.

It is, however, generally conceded the UK Prime Minister’s Office is now much more functional than under Johnson and Truss, albeit Sunak is reportedly still trying to micro-manage where he should be looking at the big picture.

More crucially, Conservative MPs with majorities of less than 10,000 votes fear Sunak cannot help them retain their seats.

In short, it appears to be a tough time ahead for Sunak, popular with many though not all British Hindus.

His cultural and ethnic background, limited experience in politics and a personality seen to be somewhat uncharismatic seem to make it difficult for him to connect with voters, especially working-class Britons.

In Britain, indigenous people expect a politician to be one of them when it comes to letting one’s hair down at a pub in an evening and going to football matches over weekends.

Sunak claims to be a supporter of Southampton Football Club, who play in the English Premier League; but is not reputed to be a natural at a watering hole.

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