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Labour reacted with fury tonight after
Labour reacted with fury tonight after was cleared of wrong-doing over his personal tax affairs and those of his non-dom wife.
The Chancellor faced criticism after it was revealed he had held a US Green Card – which carries American residency and tax requirements – while in office.
There was also uproar over Akshata Murty’s tax status and her shareholding in Indian tech firm Infosys, performanceremedy while living in a grace-and-favour apartment in .
But Lord Geidt, the adviser on ministerial standards cleared Mr Sunak of wrongdoing, after the Chancellor referred himself for investigation.
In advice to the Prime Minister, Lord Geidt wrote: ‘I advise that the requirements of the ministerial code have been adhered to by the Chancellor and that he has been assiduous in meeting his obligations and in engaging with this investigation.
‘In reaching these judgments, I am confined to the question of conflicts of interest and the requirements of the ministerial code.
‘My role does not touch on any wider question of the merits of such interests or arrangements.’
Labour accused Lord Geidt of overseeing an ‘utter whitewash’ and claimed his report ‘fails to answer the most basic questions and makes a mockery of our democracy’.
They pointed to how the Cabinet Office, even before Mr Sunak had referred himself for investigation, had declared that Lord Geidt was ‘completely satisfied with the Chancellor’s propriety of arrangements’.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: ‘It was clear from the start that this report would be an utter whitewash – the Government announced the result of this inquiry before it had even started.
‘This report fails to answer the most basic questions and makes a mockery of our democracy.Downing Street has lost all ethical credibility.
‘Now we know that the Government was fully aware of the Chancellor’s tax-dodging tactics but failed to inform the public or take any action.
‘Given Rishi Sunak’s tax affairs appear to be an open secret in Whitehall, the crucial question is whether the Prime Minister was aware of these and allowed him to continue running the UK economy, hiking up taxes for working people while potentially benefitting from loopholes.
‘The Prime Minister and Chancellor have spent the last few weeks entirely preoccupied with saving their own skins, failing to do anything to address the spiralling cost of living.’
The Chancellor faced criticism after it was revealed he had held a US Green Card while in office
There was also uproar over Akshata Murty’s tax status and her shareholding in Indian tech firm Infosys, while living in Downing Street
But Lord Geidt, the advisor on ministerial standards today cleared him of wrongdoing, saying he had been ‘has been assiduous in meeting his obligations’
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox news floatRHS" data-version="2" id="mol-f741eac0-c648-11ec-ac5e-2596998a7ac0" website Sunak is CLEARED by ministerial standards watchdog
