A BIG BUDGET
Outrage over massive energy cost of Chancellor’s new swimming pool
Mikey Smith
WHITEHALL CORRESPONDENT and Rachel Wearmouth
SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER
RISHI Sunak is set to splash out up to £13,000 a year to heat his new swimming pool – six-and-a-half times the average energy bill for a family home.
The Chancellor has been building a pool, gym and tennis courts at his £1.5million country manor in his North Yorkshire constituency.
And the huge rise in the energy price cap for consumers this month increased the cost of heating Mr Sunak’s pool by up to £3,500 a year.
Last night, some of his constituents in the main square in Richmond reacted angrily to our revelation about his pool. One trader, who was packing away his stall, shouted: “That’s disgraceful. They should fill it up with mud.”
Disgusting
Pauline Porter, 69 was even less impressed. The retired shopworker said: “It is disgusting, especially in these times. They have no idea how normal people live. They just don’t care.”
Her husband Leslie, 69, agreed. The retired steeworker said: “Some people are having to choose between heating and eating. Bills are all rising and he does this. It’s obscene.”
Receptionist Hayley Hadden, 31, said: “He is a millionaire many times over and it looks like he is rubbing our noses in it. He doesn’t have to worry about paying his bills.”
The uproar comes after a torrid few weeks for Mr Sunak.
The multi-millionaire ex-banker was heavily criticised for still having a US green card giving him the right to work in the States.
He also had to defend his wife Akshata Murthy, the daughter of an Indian billionaire and one of Britain’s wealthiest women, for not paying UK tax.
When told about the pool, York Labour MP Rachel Maskell said: “Could a Tory Chancellor be any more out of touch if they tried? He may
have now given up his US green card but as far as most people are concerned Rishi Sunak is living on another planet.” Mr Sunak and his wife bought their gated Grade Iilisted manor near Northallerton, North Yorks, for £1.5m in 2015.
Last year, the couple applied for a new stone building on a paddock to house a gym, a 12-metre by 5-metre swimming pool, four showers and utilities and storage rooms. According to industry figures, Mr Sunak’s new pool would require 116KW of electricity to maintain a 25C temperature each day.
If he heats the pool every day with electricity from the mains, at a cost of 28p per KWH, that amounts to £12,959.09 over a year.
British Gas says the average annual energy bill for a three-bedroom house under the new price cap is £1,970.57 – less than a sixth of the cost of heating Mr Sunak’s swimming pool.
The price cap is set by regulator Ofgem and reviewed every six months following discussions with Mr Sunak’s officials at the Treasury, and the Department for Business and Energy. Mr Sunak
could reduce the burden of warming the pool by using a heat pump, which could cost more than £7,000 to install but heat the water without mains electricity.
Or he could install solar panels, which would also generate his own power.
Venison
The dad of two frequently spends time relaxing at his Yorkshire bolthole when the Commons is not sitting.
It is said he regularly hosts “Sunak suppers” for neighbours, serving roast venison and red wine. Richmond constituent
Maragaret Rutter, 87, said Mr Sunak had earned his money and could spend it how he liked. She added: “If he can afford it then it’s fine by me.”
But waitress Ashley Blakey, 35, a single mother of two girls who lives in Darlington – where the Treasury will be moving some of its offices this spring – was not happy.
She told the Sunday People: “It really annoys me, the fact that he has disposable income of £13,000 to simply heat his swimming pool when there are single parents, pensioners and working families who will freeze next winter. It’s not on. He has so much say over everyone’s lives but I bet he has never been in this position himself.
“Why increase my wage when it is being taken off me in another hand by the Government increasing taxes?
“Rishi Sunak is living a lavish lifestyle and the people of this country are being treated like dirt.”
A spokesperson for Mr Sunak declined to comment.
His wife has agreed to pay UK tax on her overseas earnings.
feedback@people.co.uk