RISHI Sunak has insisted Brexit has “nothing to do” with the UK’s ongoing cost-of-living crisis despite figures showing the UK’s economic outlook is worse than similarly sized countries.
Speaking during PMQs, the Prime Minister was challenged on the impact of leaving the EU after the UK marked the three-year anniversary of Brexit.
“Let’s be clear, taken together 2022 and 2023 are expected to be the worst years for living standards since the 1930s and the economy is expected to perform worse than sanction-hit Russia," Stephen Flynn, the SNP's Westminster leader, told the PM.
“So as the Brexit ship sinks with the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition at the helm, does he blame those Scots who want to jump aboard the independence lifeboat?”
Sunak responded: “The number one factor which has impacted people’s living standards is inflation, caused by high energy prices as a result of the war in Ukraine.
“It’s got nothing to do with Brexit, and that’s why the Government is taking significant action supporting every family with £900 this winter.
“What I would say to him is rather than obsess about constitutional arrangements, focus on delivering for the people of Scotland – that’s what we will do.”
Sunak was also pressed on his government’s performance on the economy by the SNP’s Ian Blackford, who was met with loud cries of “he’s back” as he asked his first question at PMQs since stepping down last year as his party’s Westminster leader.
The Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP said people living every day with high energy bills, rising food prices and facing mortgage defaults did not need a forecast from the IMF to know the “UK economy is the worst performer amongst the leading nations in the world”.
“The Prime Minister is 100 days in office, his party 13 years in power. In all that time, does the Prime Minister ever reflect that the only thing the Tory party has been good at is pushing people into poverty?” Blackford asked.
Sunak responded: “He mentioned poverty – poverty today lower than when the Conservatives first came into office. Inequality, lower than when the Conservatives first came into office and the number of people in low pay, the lowest on record.”
Meanwhile Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer continued to pile pressure on the Prime Minister over what he knew about the taxman’s investigation into now sacked Tory party chairman Nadhim Zahawi and allegations of bullying against Dominic Raab before they were given Cabinet positions.
He compared Sunak to Boris Johnson saying: “He’s just like one of his predecessors who treated questions about conduct as something to brush off, who thought ducking responsibility was a perfectly reasonable response for a prime minister.
“At least, in fairness, his predecessor didn’t go around pretending he was a paragon of integrity and accountability.
“On that subject, was it a coincidence that the two people who arranged an £800,000 line of credit for the former prime minister were both short-listed for plum jobs at the BBC and the British Council?”
Starmer went on: “The Tory Party’s addiction to sleaze and scandal has done huge damage to this country and the cost to the public keeps adding up.”
SNP MP Kirsty Blackman also pointed to Sunak’s pledge to have a government “marked by integrity”.
She asked the Prime Minister for his thoughts on the UK “being only one of five countries along with Oman, Azerbaijan, Myanmar, and Qatar that has seen a decrease in Transparency International’s corruption index score since last year.”
Sunak replied: “There is widespread recognition and support for the UK’s approach to transparency and indeed tackling corruption.”
