Rishi Sunak’s personal wealth under attack ahead of key inflation announcement
Rishi Sunak’s “soaring” personal wealth has come under fresh attack ahead of crucial inflation figures coming out tomorrow.
In what will be a key moment in the election campaign, the rate of inflation is expected to ease back to the Bank of England’s target of 2% for the first time since spring 2021.
Election latest: Farage to become MP for first time, poll projects
The figures could provide a much needed boost for the embattled prime minister, whose key offering to voters is that the economy has “turned a corner” under his leadership and they should not risk change with Labour.
But the Labour Party says this claim is “rubbished” by data showing more than half of Brits think the cost of living crisis has become worse in the last month.
The party says that Mr Sunak’s wealth increased by £122m in the last year, while data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows millions of people continue to struggle.
Darren Jones, shadow chief secretary to the treasury, told Sky News: “No wonder Rishi Sunak doesn’t have a clue what working people are going through. He is entirely insulated from the cost of living crisis and totally out of touch.
“Under the Tories, taxes on working people have risen to a 70-year high and this week Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that their manifesto is unfunded.
“We need a change, we need a government that understands working people, we need a Labour government.”
Darren Jones, shadow chief secretary to the treasury
ONS data released earlier this month showed 54% of people believed the cost of living has increased compared to one month ago – while just 3% of people believed it had decreased.
The biggest way people are feeling the pinch is at the supermarket – with 91% of respondents saying the price of their food shop has shot up.
The data also showed 45% of people’s rent or mortgage has increased in the last six months, while a third of people say they are unable to save anything in the year ahead.
This is despite the fact inflation is nearing normal levels, after reaching record highs in recent times and at one stage hitting a peak not seen for 40 years.
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Inflation has fallen, so why are we paying more?
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With households still feeling the squeeze, all parties are facing pressure to do more to tackle the cost of living.
The Tories are promising tax cuts, with the prime minister on Tuesday night saying prioritising this was his “moral mission” now that inflation is back “under control”.
Meanwhile, Labour is vowing to cut energy bills through the creation of a publicly owned clean energy company, saying this could save families £300 a year.
Labour has sought to use Mr Sunak’s vast personal fortune as a dividing line during the election – saying he can’t relate to the pressures facing the rest of the country.
The personal wealth of Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty rose by £122m last year, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
The couple’s fortune was estimated at £651m in the latest list, published in May, up from £529m in 2023.
This means they are richer than the King, according to the annual list of the UK’s most wealthy people.
Mr Sunak was a hedge fund manager before entering politics, while his wife is a businesswoman and the daughter of an Indian billionaire.
The bulk of the couples’ wealth derives from shares in Infosys, the IT company co-founded by Ms Murty’s father.
A Conservative spokesperson hit back at Labour’s attack by claiming the party was facing a £38bn black hole in their finances – a figure that Labour has disputed.
“Keir Starmer is desperately trying to hide the fact that the £38.5bn blackhole in Labour’s manifesto will cost households up and down the country £2094,” the spokesperson said.
The prime minister has previously insisted attacks on his personal wealth don’t bother him and last week claimed he “went without lots of things” in his childhood, including Sky TV.
He has also ramped up personal attacks against his rival Sir Keir Starmer in recent days – claiming yesterday that he lacks the “courage of his convictions” and so would find the job of prime minister “hard to do well”.
Politics
‘Shy’ Reform voters in Labour areas led to Farage’s party winning by-election, Harriet Harman says
“Shy” Reform voters in Labour areas led to Nigel Farage’s party winning the Runcorn by-election by just six votes, Labour peer Harriet Harman said.
The Runcorn and Helsby seat, created in 2024, went to Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin who defeated Labour candidate Karen Shore by six votes.
Reform overturned a 34.8% majority gained by former Labour MP Mike Amesbury last year before he stood down earlier this year after he punched a constituent on a night out.
It is the closest by-election result since records began in 1945.
Read more: Badenoch apologises to Tory councillors
Labour peer and former minister Baroness Harman told Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast: “If we’d have known it was so close, I, myself, would have gone on extra time there and got those six votes.
“So, there’s a real level of frustration and I’m sure there’ll be a post-mortem, but I think there’s a lot of talk about shy Reform voters in Labour areas.”
In the local elections, running at the same time, the Conservatives lost control of all 18 councils it was contesting, with Reform taking eight of those.
The party also won two of the six mayoral contests – Reform’s first two mayors.
Harriet Harman on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast
Baroness Harman said Labour now has “got to get on with delivering on the health service” and pointed out the minimum wage increase and breakfast clubs are only just being rolled out.
But she said the government also needs “more of a story” instead of just telling people to “bear with us” while it fixes what the Conservatives did.
“It seems to be that Farage has got no delivery, as yet, and all the story, whereas the government is really getting on with delivery, but it hasn’t got a big enough story about what that fits,” she said.
Read more: Reform’s political earthquake is now shaking our political system
An installation represents a bus stop during Reform UK’s local elections campaign launch in Birmingham. Pic: Reuters
She added that “Blue Labour” MPs – a socially Conservative wing of the Labour Party – “will be emboldened to press for further action” on issues like immigration, which they want to see a tougher stance on.
“There’s been grumbling about the big salience of the concerns of the winter fuel payment, but I don’t see there being any change on that,” she said.
Baroness Harman said she does not think the by-election and local election results were “utterly predictable” and will not lead to any splits or instability within the party.
Kemi Badenoch has apologised to Tory councillors who lost their seats after Reform made massive gains at the Conservatives’ expense in Thursday’s local elections.
The Conservative leader said she knew it was “disappointing” and that she was “sincerely sorry”, but added: “We are going to win those seats back – that is my job now.”
The Tories lost overall control of all 18 councils they had been in charge of that were up for election. There were 23 councils in the race in total.
Politics latest: Sky News analysis shows Reform surge in estimated national vote
A particularly bad loss was Buckinghamshire, which has been under Tory control since 1973 when local government was reorganised. The Conservatives lost overall control by just one seat after losing 29 seats.
Reform, which has never run in local elections before, gained eight councils from the Tories, one that had no overall control previously and one from Labour – the only Labour council up for grabs in this election.
Nigel Farage with the new Runcorn and Helsby MP Sarah Pochin. Pic: Reuters
The Lib Dems won Shropshire from the Tories, as well as Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire – both of which had no overall control before.
The Conservatives had one win, with Paul Bristow being voted in as Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayor, previously held by Labour.
Reform’s first major win of the election was the Runcorn and Helsby by-election where Labour lost to Reform by six votes. It was triggered by ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury resigning after his conviction for punching a constituent.
Sir Keir Starmer said he “gets” why his party suffered defeat there and the results show “we must deliver that change ever more quickly, we must go even further”.
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Tories suffer heavy defeats
Addressing the Conservatives’ abysmal results, Ms Badenoch said: “Other parties may be winning now, but we are going to show that we can deliver and that we are on course and recovering.
“But they [the public] are still not yet ready to trust us,” she added.
“We have a big job to do to rebuild trust with the public.
“That’s the job that the Conservative Party has given me, and I’m going to make sure that we get ourselves back to the place where we are seen as being a credible alternative to Labour.”
Read more:
Reform’s political earthquake is now shaking our political system
Reform wins two new mayoral contests
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Farage: ‘This is Reform-quake’
Ms Badenoch said Labour’s election results showed Sir Keir Starmer “is on course to be a one-term prime minister”.
However, when asked if she would still be leader at the next general election, Ms Badenoch dodged the question and said: “I’m not playing all these questions that the media loves to ask about my future.
“This is not about me.”
She insisted she was the right person to lead the Conservatives, as she was chosen by the party’s members.
“I told them it wouldn’t be easy, I told them it would require a renewal and rebuilding of our party,” she said.
“That doesn’t happen in six months. I’m trying to do something that no one has ever done before, which is take their party from such a historic defeat back into government in one term.”
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