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Conservative MPs expressed concern on Monday that a row over the tax affairs of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s family will hurt the Conservative Party in the May 5 local election.
Sunak under fire for wife’s UK tax break Obtaining non-domiciled status in the UK, and he holds a U.S. green card, which puts him on a potential path to becoming a U.S. citizen. Health Minister Sajid Javid, who was prime minister before Sunak, also admitted that he held non-resident status before entering politics.
Several senior Conservatives have privately criticized Sunak’s handling of the dispute over his wife’s tax status, saying it could harm the party’s interests. local electionsAmid the cost of living crisis and revelations about Downing Street parties being held during the Covid-19 lockdown, the Conservatives are bracing for losses.
May 5 was “already bad, but there’s no question that having a chancellor who looks like he’s evading taxes in his own home will make it worse,” a minister said.
Another government member added: “Everyone mainly cares about local elections and the Rishi stuff makes it worse for us. People are already worried about the cost of living and party affiliation, but this gives Labour another way to kick us. .”
Some Conservatives have questioned whether the controversy over the Sunak family’s tax affairs will undermine the chancellor’s ambitions to succeed Johnson as party leader.
A Conservative MP said: “Local elections [in May] It would be bad, but at least then they would be held accountable.Time will tell if [Sunak] Can actually survive it all. ”
Another Conservative MP criticised Sunak’s handling of the controversy, saying: “I hate the idea of ??dragging a political spouse into a political fight, but obviously non-citizenship and green cards and being prime minister won’t work. What was he thinking? ?”
Downing Street said on Monday that Boris Johnson had granted Sunak’s request, Lord Christopher Geidt, the government’s ministerial independent adviser on standards, to investigation Has the Prime Minister declared all his interests correctly since becoming a Minister.
The 10th added that the prime minister had full confidence in Sunak, who said on Sunday that he had always followed the rules.
Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty announced last week that she will Pay UK tax For all her earnings worldwide after it came out, she was a non-dom.
as a non-dom, Murthy, who holds Indian citizenship, is entitled not to pay UK tax on his worldwide income. She owns a stake in Indian technology company Infosys, which is estimated to be worth more than £500m, and received £11.6m in dividend income last year.
Controversy over the Sunak family’s tax affairs has dealt the prime minister a second political blow: didn’t do more in his spring statement Helping Britons tackle the cost of living crisis.
Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London in August 2021. © Zac Goodwin/PA
Asked if he was out of touch with the British public, Sunak said on Monday: “Regarding the cost of living, I know it’s difficult for people . . . I want to make sure we can do it, and I can do it, we Everything you can do to get through the challenging months ahead.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer sought to contrast ministers’ behaviour with the plight of ordinary families due to the tight cost of living. “It’s really one rule for them and another rule for everyone else,” he said.
Starmer called on Downing Street to clarify the tax status of all ministers and their spouses.
It was not possible to reveal whether the other ministers had non-common-law spouses on Monday the 10th. Under UK law, MPs cannot be non-residents.
Sunak and his wife said last week that they paid all the tax due in the UK. The prime minister, who worked in the U.S. before entering politics and has a home in California, gave up his green card last October after consulting with U.S. authorities.
Labour, meanwhile, has questioned whether Sunak, as chancellor, has overseen any tax changes in favour of those with non-resident status.
Law firm Vinson & Elkins claims the tax plan in the February finance bill could provide benefits to non-residents.
But the Treasury Department said the scheme only applies to fund managers and not individuals.
Labour also questioned whether Sunak had declared a potential conflict of interest Future Fund He was prime minister to support start-ups during the pandemic, with a £650,000 convertible loan to education company Mrs Wordsmith.
Murty-controlled investment firm Catamaran Ventures, which was a minority shareholder in Mrs Wordsmith, collapsed less than six months after receiving the loan.
Sunak said on Sunday he believed Geidt’s review would find “all relevant information was properly announced”.
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