COME CLEAN, SUNAK
Former chancellor told to list family interests after wife’s firm cashes in
Rishi Sunak is facing demands to disclose his finances after it emerged his wife is cashing in on Rolls-Royce jobs outsourced to India.
The conservative leadership candidate’s partner Akshata Murty owns a £ 690million stake in Infosys – a firm which has done a deal with the British engine giant to move work to Bengaluru.
The Rolls-Royce plan to “transition a significant part of engineering centre capabilities” was extended in April after first being agreed two years ago.
It coincided with 700 jobs being slashed at the firm’s plant in Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, as part of a 3000 staff cull across the UK.
Former chancel lor Suna k announced he was running to be Conservative leader on Friday and is the bookies’ favourite to become the next Prime Minister.
But Labour’s Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray has demanded full disclosure of his f inances following the revelations. He said: “Sunak has been complicit in the Johnson debacle and he should be utterly ashamed.
“The loss of skilled Rolls-Royce jobs was a devastating blow to Scotland’s economy and the then- chancellor ignored calls for greater support for the industry.
“For someone now hoping to be Prime Minister, we need ful l disclosure about all his financial arrangements given the ongoing questions being asked.
“But ultimately, we don’t need to change the Tory at the top – we need a proper change of government, with a fresh start for Britain under Labour.”
Sunak has faced criticism over his wife’s non-domiciled tax status and his own police fine for attending a lockdown-busting party at Downing Street.
Rolls-Royce – one of the jewels in the crown of British industry – has been steadily building its presence in India over the last decade. In 2015, the firm announced it would employ 500 engineers there while cutting jobs in Derby.
Details of 3000 UK job losses were announced months before the Infosys partnership was made public, with Rolls- Royce blaming the pandemic for a downturn in the aerospace industry.
Infosys was founded by Murty’s billionaire father, Narayana, 75.
The 42-year- old has come under scrutiny for her tax status which will have allowed her to avoid a multi-million pound tax bills on her worldwide income.
Infosys has also been criticised for failing to cut business ties with Russia quickly enough in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
Rolls-Royce received hundreds of thousands of pounds from the chancellor’s department when it furloughed 4000 workers at the beginning of the pandemic – despite announcing massive job cuts soon afterwards.
The engineering company recently
shortlisted six sites for a factory that will build its proposed small nuclear reactors – one of which was in Sunak’s constituency of Richmond, north Yorkshire.
The firm insisted the jobs being transferred to Infosys were already based in India but union leaders have complained for years about the firm offshoring of highly skilled jobs to India while cutting capacity in Britain.
Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the Unite union, which represents thousands of Rolls-Royce workers in the UK, said: “You couldn’t make it up – the Conservative Government, shou ld be f ighting to protect highly skilled aviation jobs like those at Rol ls- Royce and protecting the tax revenues these jobs generate. Instead, it appears the Sunaks are profiting from the outsourcing of Rolls-Royce jobs and work.”
Sunak has furiously defended his wife’s tax affairs and called reports about her non-dom status “unpleasant smears”.
She was estimated to have avoided £2.1million a year in UK tax thanks to her 0.9 per cent stake in Infosys. Sunak resigned from the Government following a major row last weekend with Boris Johnson over how and when to cut tax, it has emerged. He declared his bid to replace the PM with a slick campaign video and helped to trigger a landslide of resignations when he stepped down on Tuesday evening, just minutes after Health Secretary Sajid Javid.