In interviews this morning, George Eustice was also asked about the Homes for Ukraine program for refugees and why by the end of last week only about 1,200 people who had been granted visas under the scheme had arrived in the UK. When he was told on LBC that this was rubble, he would not accept it. He said: I do not think it’s rubble, but Priti Patel herself is obviously in it. It is very clear that it will make further changes if needed. They have already made some changes – removing, for example, the need for Ukrainian passport holders to actually attend any kind of interview in person to allow them to go through directly. So some changes and improvements have been made. I’m sure Priti Patel will look into it carefully and make other changes if needed to unblock any bottlenecks that may be present in the system. 21 minutes ago 10:04 The UK’s growth slowed more than expected in February amid a slump in the auto industry, despite a sharp recovery in holiday bookings abroad following easing of restrictions on Covid, says my colleague Richard Partington. Before 23 m. 10:02
Eustice denies claiming Sunak is too rich to be chancellor or prime minister
George Eustice, the environment secretary, was on “government defense” in the airwaves this morning and, although he was going to talk about government plans to stop councils charging people for dumping DIY waste in tips (in the hope that this will reduce fly), he spent much of his time talking about the finances of the Rishi Sunak family. Here are the main points he made. [Sunak is] it is very clear that he has stated everything that should have been stated at the right time and there is a process here that you have as a minister. You state all your interests to the permanent secretary in your department and the cabinet office decides which pieces should be made public, what information they should know, there is a duty of honesty in both directions and Rishi is very clear that she was very honest about its own settings at each stage.
Eustice bypassed a question about whether he understood the outrage caused by the revelation about the chancellor’s wife who was not a resident. Asked by Sky’s Kay Burley if he understood why people were unhappy with it, Eustice suggested that Sunak should be tried in his file and stressed that Sunak had paid all his taxes.
Eustice failed to explain why Sunak had kept his green card in the US for so long. He said the green card had been a “hangover” since Sunak worked in the United States. But Eustice could not explain why Sunak still had it when he became chancellor.
Eustice said he did not believe Sunak was too rich to become chancellor or prime minister. When this offer was made to him, he replied:
I do not think it is right to have a rule that says you are too rich to be able to play a role – what matters is the knowledge, the technical expertise you have … You can not walk a mile in everyone’s shoes, we all have different perspectives, different experiences in life and for every MP, let alone a minister, the most important thing is the ability to empathize with people who may have had experiences and challenges. in their lives, which you personally have not experienced. George Eustice on ITV Good Morning Britain Photo: GMB51m 9:04 AM
Sunak’s call for inquiry into his conduct fails to quell allegations he may have violated the ministerial code
Good morning. Last night there were calls for an inquiry into Rishi Sunak’s financial interests – by the chancellor himself. This is tantamount to voluntary surrender to regulators and is a tactic often used by MPs who face complaints of misconduct when (a) they want to regain control of the narrative and (b) are reasonably certain that they will be removed. In the last point, Sunak does not seem to have any doubts. He called for an inquiry into Lord Geidt, the prime minister’s independent adviser on ministerial standards, on his statements of interest as a minister, and said he was “confident that such a review of my statements would find all relevant information properly stated”. . Sunak made the move in response to a letter from Angela Rainer, the deputy leader of the Labor Party, calling for an investigation into Sunak’s alleged failure to declare financial interests, as well as other issues, including the recent U.S. green card. . But Sunak’s statement failed to silence the Labor Party, and this morning Steve Reed, the shadow justice minister, renewed his claim that Sunak might have violated the ministerial code. Asked if he thought this was possible, Reed told Today: Absolutely. But it is not an isolated incident, there are other failures here. He also failed to declare his wife 6 690 million’s stake in Infosys, an IT company based in India, which we reportedly had 15 separate face-to-face meetings with senior ministers, including the prime minister. and has been awarded multimillion-pound government contracts. Now, if the chancellor’s household benefits from such contracts, it should have stated in the register of interests, but it did not. There is a whole list of areas where the chancellor seems to have failed to say things he should have said. George Eustice, the environment secretary, defended Sunak in his morning interview. I will post short snapshots of his interviews shortly. The Parliament does not meet and the calendar for today is relatively empty. But we have an update on the Downing Street lobby at 11.30am. and Kir Starmer is campaigning in the Northeast. The conference of the National Educational Union is also taking place in Bournemouth. I try to follow the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, include “Andrew” somewhere and I will be more likely to find it. I’m trying to answer questions and if it is of general interest, I will post the question and answer over the line (ATL), although I can not promise to do it for everyone. If you want to get my attention quickly, it’s probably best to use Twitter. I’m at @AndrewSparrow. Alternatively, you can email me at [email protected] Updated on 10.02 BST
