reens have responded to a leaked video showing the ex-Chancellor, Rishi Sunak boasting to Conservative Party members in Royal Tunbridge Wells that he had diverted public money out of deprived urban areas like Bradford to help wealthy towns.
The leaked video was uncovered by the New Statesman magazine and shows the Tory Leadership Contender speaking to party members in the affluent Kent town.
The Green Party National Transport spokesperson Councillor Matt Edwards, who represents Tong Ward on Bradford Council, one of the most deprived wards in the city, has slammed the Chancellor for bragging about creating a system where “tax payers in large metropolitan areas – most of which are in the North are subsidising the most affluent areas of the country – most of which are in the South”.
“This government keeps banging on about ‘levelling up’ but Sunak has admitted to what The Conservatives have really have been doing. Bradford Council has had its budgets slashed under the guise of austerity meaning we aren’t able to deliver the most basic services or investment in public facilities.
“Tax payers in Bradford have seen their council tax go up only to see services and investment slashed. Only last month I highlighted the scandal of Bradford Council only being able to spend £170,000 on Road Safety measures across the entire Bradford South constituency. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Bradford Council doesn’t have the money to improve, or even maintain our parks, resurface our roads or collect our bins weekly.
Meanwhile, we have the man who has been in government since 2018 bragging that he’s been rigging the system to make sure tax payers in The North are subsidising the most affluent areas of the country, many of whom vote Conservative.
“This is an absolute scandal and shows he is not fit to be Prime Minister.”