News
Election latest: Rishi Sunak criticized for ‘skipping’ D-Day ceremony | Politics News
Labor accuses Sunak of ‘skipping’ D-Day ceremony to ‘convince people he’s not a liar’
Labor is on the offensive after Rishi Sunak walked out of D-Day ceremonies in Normandy earlier today.
Although the prime minister was present in the early parts of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the landings, he was absent afterwards.
Defense Secretary Grant Shapps and Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron took their place, with the latter pictured alongside leaders such as Germany’s Olaf Scholz, American Joe Biden and France’s Emmanuel Macron.
Labor was also keen to highlight a photo of Sir Keir Starmer alongside Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A Labor Party source said: “If the Prime Minister skipped this afternoon’s D-Day celebrations to try to convince people he is not a liar, he should just tell the truth.”
Jonathan Ashworth, general treasurer of the Labor Party, said: “For the Prime Minister to leave D-Day commemorations early to record a television interview where he once again blatantly lied is both an embarrassment and a complete dereliction of duty.
“Our country deserves so much better than the desperate, unhinged Rishi Sunak and his chaotic Conservative Party.”
Meanwhile, reformist leader Nigel Farage said: “The Prime Minister skipped the international D-Day event to fly back to the UK to campaign.
“I’m here in Normandy in a personal capacity because I think it matters. Doesn’t he?”
The accusation that he was trying to defend himself against accusations of being a liar came after ITV News tweeted a clip of an interview with Sunak.
Allegations that Sunak was lying about the Labor Party wanting to increase taxes by £2,000 were made to him.
The Prime Minister said this was “desperate” – and did not accept that the claim was “dubious”.
ITV’s Paul Brand, who gave the interview, later confirmed that the chat took place after the Prime Minister returned from France – but ITV did not choose the time.
The £2,000 figure refers to alleged tax rises that the Conservatives think Labor will implement over the next four years – which equates to £500 a year.
As Ed Conway, data and economics editor at Sky explained here – there are many flaws in this figure, and it ignores the fact that the Conservatives have increased taxes by £13,000 in the last five years, if we use the same method.