Boris Johnson has said politicians’ families should be kept out of politics as he dodged the row over the non-domicile tax status of Rishi Sunak’s wife.
Akshata Murty has become embroiled in a major controversy after it emerged she does not pay UK tax on her foreign earnings.
She has a stake in her billionaire father’s IT services company Infosys, from which she receives a multi-million pound annual dividend.
A spokesperson for Murty said her so-called “non-dom” status was a direct result of her Indian citizenship.
“So, according to British law, Ms Murty is treated as non-domiciled for UK tax purposes,” the spokesperson said. “She has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income.”
Labour has demanded Sunak reveals how much UK tax his wife has avoided as a result of being a non-dom.
Asked about the row, Johnson said: “I think it is very important in politics if you possibly can to try and keep people’s families out of it.”
Speaking on a visit to Hinkley Point C as the government launched its energy security strategy, the prime minister said: “What I will say is that Rishi and I are working very hard on a massive long-term British energy security strategy, that is what we are focused on.”
But Labour leader Keir Starmer said the chancellor was guilty of “breathtaking hypocrisy”.
He said: “The chancellor has imposed tax rise after tax rise on working people and has said time and again there’s no alternative, we’ve got no option.
“If it now transpires that his wife has used schemes to reduce her own tax, then that is breathtaking hypocrisy and is more evidence of just how out of touch this chancellor is and I think he’s got serious questions to answer in relation to these schemes.”