‘Out of contact’ Rishi Sunak blasted for £1,000 Rwanda wager with Piers Morgan

Rishi Sunak has been branded “out of touch” for agreeing to a £1,000 wager on whether or not deportation flights to Rwanda will get going earlier than the election.

The Prime Minister shook on the wager after being challenged by Piers Morgan over his crisis-hit plan to ship some asylum seekers to the African nation. The flagship Tory pledge has been beset by authorized challenges – and Mr Sunak just lately refused to ensure that flights would take off earlier than Britain goes to the polls this yr.

The Government is attempting to power laws by way of Parliament to declare Rwanda a protected nation after the scheme was discovered to be illegal by the Supreme Court in November. In an interview with Piers Morgan’s Uncensored programme, Mr Sunak was challenged on whether or not the plan was in tatters.

The TalkTV host informed the Prime Minister: “I’ll bet you £1,000 pounds to a refugee charity, you don’t get anybody on those planes before the election. Will you take that bet?”

Mr Sunak appeared to just accept the wager by shaking fingers, telling him: “Well, I want to get the people on the planes, right? Of course, I want to get the people on the plane… Right? I am working incredibly hard to get the people on the planes.”

The trade triggered outrage, with Shadow Paymaster General Jonathan Ashworth saying: “Not a lot of people facing rising mortgages, bills and food prices are casually dropping £1,000 bets. It just shows that Rishi Sunak is totally out of touch with working people.”

Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock tweeted: “Probably the least Prime Ministerial thing I’ve seen in 9 years in Parliament. Deeply distasteful. A Prime Minister splashing his cash around like it’s monopoly money – betting on a policy that he has lost control over.”

SNP Cabinet Office spokesperson Kirsty Blackman mentioned: “Placing a bet on the lives of vulnerable refugees fleeing war and persecution is grotesque, callous and downright cruel – and shows just how out of touch Westminster is with the values of people in Scotland.

“It’s significantly shameful that Rishi Sunak, one of many richest males within the UK, thinks it is applicable to just accept a £1,000 wager – and can remind peculiar working households that close to billionaire Sunak does not have a clue what life is like for the remainder of us in a price of residing disaster.”

The party has written to civil service chief Simon Case and Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM’s Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests, to question whether Mr Sunak had breached the ministerial code.

Asked about the bet, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said he “had not had a chance to talk to [Mr Sunak]” about it. He said: “I think what the Prime Minister is saying and what was clear coming through from that interview is the Prime Minister’s absolute confidence that we’ll get flights off the ground and obviously his conviction that it’s important that we get the bill passed.”

Asked whether he thought the PM was setting a good example, given the Government’s clampdown on gambling, he said: “I think he’s focused on doing what is needed to deliver on priorities for the British people and I think what that clip demonstrates is his conviction that the bill that is in front of the House of Lords will do the job and get flights off to Rwanda as quick as possible.”