Rishi Sunak news – latest: Prime minister facing parliament watchdog investigation
The investigation relates to the shares Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murthy, holds in Koru Kids
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Your support makes all the difference.Rishi Sunak is under investigation by the parliament’s sleaze watchdog amid allegations he failed to declare the shares his wife holds in a childcare agency that was boosted by the Budget.
The investigation relates to the shares his wife Akshata Murthy holds in Koru Kids, a child-care agency.
The prime minister last month faced demands to “come clean” about his family shares last month when questioned by MPs over why the childcare policy favoured private firms.
Appearing before the Liaison Committee, he did not mention Ms Murthy’s shares in the firm, in which she has been listed as a shareholder on Companies House.
A fortnight earlier, chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a pilot of incentive payments of £600 for childminders joining the profession.
A No 10 spokesperson responded: “We are happy to assist the commissioner to clarify how this has been transparently declared as a ministerial interest.”
Labour raises question in Commons over government’s childminder proposals amid Sunak investigation
Labour has raised questions in the Commons over the government’s childminder proposals in light of Rishi Sunak’s wife holding shares in a childcare agency.
Shadow education minister Helen Hayes said: “In the Spring Budget the Chancellor announced new incentives for people registering as childminders and a double incentive to register with childminding agencies.
“Will the minister set out why she considered it necessary to incentivise childminders to sign-up with agencies and what conversations she and the Secretary of State (Gillian Keegan) had with the Prime Minister and the agency in which his wife is a shareholder prior to the Budget?”
Education minister Claire Coutinho replied: “It’s a very simple reason, it’s because we subsidise Ofsted for the registration costs - so it costs them about £35, whereas a childminder agency to register a childminder costs them, it can be, £500-plus.
“So the discrepancy is just simply to balance that out and to balance out the fact that they have different costs.
“I know the Number 10 team are collaborating with the commissioner to establish facts and show that everything has been transparent and declared.”
Sunak’s wife loses £49 million in single day after shares in Infosys Ltd plunge
Rishi Sunak has almost certaintly had better starts to a week than this.
Bloomberg’s Alex Wickham reports that the prime minister’s wife, Akshata Murty, has lost about £49 million in a single day after shares in Infosys Ltd tumbled 9.4%.
Rishi Sunak ignored by students as he repeatedly asks for questions after maths speech
From seatbelts to green cards: SIX times Rishi Sunak has been personally investigated
Rishi Sunak began his premiership with a promise to bring “integrity and accountability” back to the heart of government.
But the prime minister and former chancellor has himself been at the centre of a string of investigations since breaking into the political mainstream.
One of the most damaging questions facing Mr Sunak has been around his family’s vast fortune. But he was also caught up in the Partygate scandal which contributed to the downfall of his predecessor Boris Johnson, resulting in him receiving a fixed penalty notice.
As Parliament’s ethics watchdog launched a fresh inquiry into the PM over a possible failure to declare his wife’s shares in a childcare agency, The Independent looks at six times Mr Sunak has been under scrutiny while serving in government.
Six times Rishi Sunak’s has been investigated
PM facing allegations of a possible failure to declare shares his wife holds in a childcare agency boosted by Budget
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