Today Labour has said that PM Rishi Sunak should sack Tory Chairman, and former Chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, not just order an inquiry after his tax affairs scandal show now signs of going away, a bit like his tax bill might have…
The Tory party chair has since agreed to pay a penalty to HMRC as part of a seven-figure settlement over his tax affairs.
The tax due was around £3.7m based on the capital gains tax incurred by the sale of multiple tranches of shares in YouGov, which led to transfers of money to Zahawi.
The HMRC applied a 30% penalty to the £3.7m, bringing the total due to £4.8m, reports the Guardian.
Pathetic
With this in mind rock band Catatonia’s former front-woman Cery Mathews’s tweet has gone viral, but more of that in a moment.
Labour’s Angela Rayner said: “This pathetic attempt to pass the buck is simply not good enough. Nadhim Zahawi was chancellor of the exchequer while he hadn’t paid his tax and was negotiating a settlement with HMRC at the time. You don’t need an ethics adviser to tell you that’s unacceptable.
“The prime minister made the decision to appoint Nadhim Zahawi as a government minister and Conservative party chair. Rishi Sunak’s vote of confidence in Nadhim Zahawi is yet another example of his weak leadership and appalling judgement. He can no longer dodge questions about what he knew and when, or why warnings were ignored.
I”t’s his responsibility as prime minister to ensure his cabinet’s tax affairs are up-to-date and in order, but he’s too compromised to do his job and failing to deliver the integrity, professionalism and accountability he promised. Rishi Sunak must get a grip and dismiss Nadhim Zahawi from his cabinet immediately.”
Cerys Mathews
The welsh singer took off on social media after tweeting: “Bloody hell, just realized I owe 3 million in tax. Doh.”
Or was it £3.7?!
Anti-Brexit activist Steve Bray then punned in with: “Enough to give you ‘Road Rage’ and remove that seat belt? Just ask ‘Mulder & Scully’, this corrupt government needs some wrath of ‘International Velvet'”
And it is worth adding in this tweet as it is a mistake we all make, all the time…
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