“These things don’t bother me", UK PM Rishi Sunak said as he was criticised for his family’s tax arrangements. UK has “moved beyond” judging people on their money, the Indian-origin UK premier said as a new estimate revealed that his fortune had fallen to around £500 million. Rishi Sunak is the wealthiest British prime minister ever on account of his wife Akshata Murty’s shareholdings.
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The new Sunday Times rich list estimated that his family’s wealth had dropped by £200 million in the past year. Rishi Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, had an estimated worth of about £529m, a fall from £730m in 2022, it revealed. Akshata Murty owns a small stake in Infosys.
But Rishi Sunak said people were not bothered by his wealth when reporters asked him if he gets upset by personal attacks on his family. One UK opposition attack advertisement said, “Do you think it’s right to raise taxes for working people when your family has benefited from a tax loophole? Rishi Sunak does.”
Rishi Sunak, however, said, “I haven’t really actually focused on it or seen all of it. The bits at PMQs I probably hear but the rest of it I don’t. These things generally don’t worry me. I don’t think most people sitting at home actually are much bothered about these things either."
“What they care about is what am I doing for them to make their lives better. As I talked a lot about last summer, I think we’ve moved beyond judging people by what’s in their bank account," he added.
{{/usCountry}}“What they care about is what am I doing for them to make their lives better. As I talked a lot about last summer, I think we’ve moved beyond judging people by what’s in their bank account," he added.
{{/usCountry}}Akshata Murty was at the centre of a political storm last year after it emerged she had potentially avoided up to £20 million in UK tax by being non-domiciled
“I think in our country, we judge people not by their bank account, we judge them by their character and their actions. And yes, I’m really fortunate to be in the situation I’m in now, but I wasn’t born like this,” Rishi Sunak had earlier said.