Fresh blow for embattled Rishi Sunak as economy grows by just 0.1 per cent
RISHI Sunak faces yet another headache with the economy hitting the buffers as he scrambles to save his job.
The embattled Chancellor must deal with growth of just 0.1 per cent.
It comes as he fights to salvage his career after days of torrid headlines on his family's finances.
GDP rose by a tiny fraction last month — missing the 0.3 per cent rise predicted by experts, who warned Britain‘s economy could shrink in the next few months.
The cost of living crisis and Ukraine war meant growth was far below the 0.8 per cent recorded in January.
Yesterday, PM Boris Johnson approved a formal investigation by his ethics supremo to see whether rules were broken over the Sunak family finances.
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Treasury insiders said Mr Sunak had no intention of quitting, as he ordered the inquiry into how wife Akshata Murty’s tax status was leaked.
Cabinet colleague George Eustice insisted the multi-millionaire Chancellor was not too rich to do the job.
But Labour chief Sir Keir Starmer warned the issue was a “matter of real fairness”.
Mr Sunak is embroiled in a row over Akshata’s non-dom status and for holding a US green card while Chancellor.
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She announced on Friday she would pay UK taxes on all her worldwide income — a day after he told The Sun “that’s how the system works”.
She is said to have saved millions in taxes on her shares in Infosys, her father’s Indian business.
Last night, it emerged the PM and other ministers have met repeatedly with the company over £1billion of trade with India and other Government contracts.
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No10 said the PM retained full confidence in Mr Sunak.
Last night, a poll showed more people thought he was doing a bad job (37 per cent) than a good one (30 per cent).