An announcement made by British finance minister Jeremy Hunt – new funding for public swimming pools – during the government’s budget in an hour-long speech to Parliament on 15 March has made a big splash among opposition lawmakers.
The British finance minister’s 63 million pounds of funding for pools arrived days after a media report about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lavishing money on the pool at his private home in northern England, reported Reuters.
According to the Guardian newspaper, for the latest announcement special equipment had to be installed to provide enough power for Sunak’s swimming pool at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds.
In his Budget speech, Hunt touched on the topic of swimming pools and the costs they and other community facilities faced amid a time of high energy bills.
“When times are tough, such facilities matter even more,” Reuter quoted Hunt’s speech, which resulted by raucous laughter from lawmakers set off by the mere mention of swimming pools.
Following this, Parliament’s deputy speaker had to intervene and had to call for order before Hunt could continue.
Though TV cameras failed to capture Sunak’s reaction, the Daily Mirror said the prime minister maintained a ‘masterful poker face’.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said many of Hunt’s budget measures were based on ideas proposed by his party, including a cut to fuel duty, which Sunak promoted last year with a photo-shoot using a modest family car that turned out to be borrowed.
“We look forward to the prime minister promoting the swimming pools policy,” Starmer said. “Unlike the car, he won’t have to borrow one of those.”
With Reuters inputs.
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