Rishi Sunak brags about receiving money from ‘urban deprivation’ for rich towns | Political news

Rishi Sunak has been accused of “transferring taxpayer money to the wealthy of Tory” after he told party members he was working to redirect funding away from “deprived metropolitan areas”. win”.

One video obtained by New Statesman magazine shows the former prime minister proudly telling the grassroots Conservatives that he has begun changing the formula for public funding to ensure more prosperous towns receive “the funding they deserve”.

In remarks made in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, last week, he said: “I’ve been trying to start changing funding formulas, to make sure areas like this get the funding they deserve by because we inherited a bunch of recipes from Labor that pushed all the funding into deprived urban areas and that needs to be undone.

“I started work undoing that.”

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Labor MPs voiced their anger over the comments, while secretary Lisa Nandy hinted at calling them “scandal”.

She said: “Rishi Sunak openly brags that he has fixed the rules for transferring taxpayer money to the wealthy of Tory.

“This is our money. It should be spent fairly and where it is needed most – not used as a bribe for Tory members. Let’s talk about showing true color. your.”

Mr. Sunak’s campaign did not oppose the video and instead defended its content.

Meanwhile, Ian Murray, Labor MP for Edinburgh South, said: “No surprises here. The Tories have done it every time they’ve been in power. ‘Promotion’ is just another vacated slogan of the surname.”

Tory MP Jake Berry, chair of the MPs’ Northern Study Group, also condemned the remarks as he attacked Mr Sunak’s leadership campaign.

He tweeted: “In public @RishiSunak claims he wants to upgrade the North, but here he brags about trying to lure significant investment away from underserved areas?

“He said one thing and did another – from raising taxes to trying to block funding to our armed forces and now leveling up.”

And Foreign Secretary Lord Zac Goldsmith said: “This is one of the strangest – and most absurd – things I have ever heard from a politician.”

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A source for Mr. Sunak’s campaign said: “Promotion not only in the city centres, but also in towns and rural areas across the country needs help. That’s what he did. He has changed in the blue book and he will follow even though he is the minister himself, the pastor.

“Traveling across the country, he sees non-urban areas in need of better bus service, faster broadband or high-quality schools. That’s what he’s going to do as a person. prime minister.”

However, Mr. Sunak’s allies have rallied around the Tory leadership candidate.

The Conservative Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen, argued that Boris Johnson led the party to victory in the election with a pledge to invest in areas “that have been overlooked at the expense of cities. urban”.

And Richard Holden, Tory MP for North West Durham, attacked Labor for “pulling investment out of small cities, towns, suburbs, villages” while “splashing money” into centres. urban center.

Defending Mr Sunak, he told Sky News: “Rishi Sunak has torn away (treasury) so that places right from Cornwall to the Cotswolds to County Durham to Cambridgeshire have essentially benefited from a complete change in the climate. rules.”

The remarks come as Mr Sunak tries to base himself against Foreign Minister Liz Truss to win the support of party members who will choose the next prime minister.

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Ms Truss has consistently led in the polls, but last night saw Mr capture an audience of undecided voters after Sky News’ Battle for No 10 show.