Former chancellor Rishi Sunak told Conservative Party members he would ‘undo’ funding that was put into deprived urban areas to help wealthy towns in a leaked video from last month.
Details of the video, which was filmed on July 29 while Sunak spoke to Tories in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were first revealed by the New Statesman today (August 5).
In the video, Sunak said he had been able to start ‘changing funding formulas’ to ensure areas like Tunbridge Wells, where the average house price was almost £530,000 at the end of last year, could get ‘the funding they deserve’.
Sunak said in the clip: “I managed to start changing the funding formulas, to make sure areas like this are getting the funding they deserve because we inherited a bunch of formulas from Labour that shoved all the funding into deprived urban areas and that needed to be undone. I started the work of undoing that.”
Wigan MP and shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy shared a clip of the video on Twitter, expressing her anger at Sunak’s comments. She wrote: “This is scandalous. Rishi Sunak is openly boasting that he fixed the rules to funnel taxpayers’ money to rich Tory shires."
Afzal Khan, Manchester Gorton MP and Shadow Justice Minister, added: "In Manchester - one of those deprived urban areas Rishi is on about here - has been forced by Tory and Lib Dem governments to make £420 million budget cuts and had its spending power slashed by 15%."
Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram also shared his dismay online by posting: "Rishi, you've said the quiet part out loud... But seriously, between these comments and Liz Truss's pay poorer regions less' proposals, how are voters across the North supposed to trust the Conservative Party? The mask has slipped. A Labour government is required."
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