Rishi Sunak keeps a low profile as he completes a tricky week with Wolverhampton visit
Rishi Sunak ducked and dived his way into the Black Country as he launched a staunch defence of his wife’s tax affairs.
The Chancellor embarked on a whistlestop tour of local businesses in Wolverhampton as part of a campaign trip ahead of next month’s local elections.
He chatted with staff at GI's Hair for Men before visiting software firm Technology Management – just across from the city’s former HMRC offices in Chapel Ash.
It came after a testing week for the Chancellor, who stands accused of failing to deal with the cost of living crisis by hiking taxes while his wife, Akshata Murty, saves millions from her own taxation bill thanks to her non-domicile status.
He avoided questions on the issue by cancelling a planned interview with local media, although he did make a statement earlier in which he said he believed he was the victim of a campaign to discredit him. He said: “To smear my wife to get at me is awful.”
Indian citizen Ms Murty is understood to pay around £30,000 a year for ‘non-dom’ status, meaning she can live in this country but not pay UK tax on income she earns abroad.
It is believed to have saved her more than £4 million last year.
Defending his wife, Mr Sunak said: “Every single penny that she earns in the UK she pays UK taxes on, of course she does. And every penny that she earns internationally, for example in India, she would pay the full taxes on that.
“That is how the system works for people like her who are international who have moved here.”
He also insisted his wife’s status had nothing to do with paying less tax, saying: “I can appreciate people find this situation confusing.
“But what it comes down to is, my wife was born in India, raised in India. Her family home is in India, she obviously has a very close connection. She has investments and a career independent of me.
“She had this well before we met, before she moved to this country.
“It wouldn’t be reasonable or fair to ask her to sever ties with her country because she happens to be married to me. She loves her country. Like I love mine, I would never dream of giving up my British citizenship. And I imagine most people wouldn’t.”
Labour has questioned Mr Sunak’s failure to deal with the soaring cost of living and accused him of raising taxes now so he can cut them ahead of the next general election.
The party says the Chancellor should be using visits to places such as the Black Country to explain how he will help struggling families.
Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “The cost of living crisis is hitting people in Wolverhampton hard. The Chancellor could have done more in his recent Spring Statement, for example, putting a windfall levy onto oil and tax companies to raise funds to help the poorest consumers.
“Instead, he chose to raise taxes on working people at the very moment the cost of living crisis is biting deepest.
"The Chancellor has chosen to pile pain onto households this year, in order to fund a pre-election tax cut for the Conservative Party. That’s not the way taxation policy should be set.”
Speculation has continued as to how information about Ms Murty’s tax affairs was leaked. Mr Sunak has blamed Labour, but his allies have said they suspect No 10 of trying to undermine the Chancellor, who is seen as the favourite to succeed Boris Johnson in any leadership challenge.
