Sunak forced to deny ever paying tax fine after Zahawi penalty

RISHI SUNAK was last night forced to deny that he had ever had to pay a tax penalty as scandal continued to swirl around Nadhim Zahawi.

The Prime Minister’s finances came under renewed scrutiny after it emerged Mr Zahawi, the Tory chairman, paid an estimated £4.7million HMRC demand that included a penalty while he was Chancellor.

Hours after No10 refused to comment on Mr Sunak’s tax affairs, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has never paid a penalty to HMRC and confirmed he would will publish his tax return in “due course”.

Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, had tried to link Mr Sunak’s handling of the Zahawi affair to the finances of his wife, Akshata Murty, a billionaire who has held non-domiciled status that could have reduced her UK tax bill.