Rishi Sunak has been blasted after asking a homeless man if he was into finance. The Prime Minister was visiting a homeless shelter in London run by The Passage on Friday, serving hot food to people before the Christmas weekend. But in an “excruciating” exchange, the Prime Minister is filmed asking a homeless man if he works in business.
The awkward exchange with Dean began when the man asked the Prime Minister if he’s “sorting the economy out”.
Mr Sunak replied by saying “that is exactly what I am trying to do”, before Dean said sorting the economy would be good for business.
Mr Sunak then asked “do you have… do you work in business?”, prompting the man to say: “No, I’m homeless. I am actually a homeless person. But I am interested in business.”
Dean added: “I like finance, it’s good for the city and when finance and stuff is doing well, we all do well, don’t we, in London.”
After Mr Sunak asked if Dean wanted to get into finance, the man said: “Yeah I wouldn’t mind, umm.. but, I don’t know, I’d like to get through Christmas first.”
Dean explained to Mr Sunak he hoped a charity would find him some temporary accommodation so he was not on the street for Christmas.
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, described the exchange as excruciating.
Labour MP Stella Creasy added: “Watching this I am concerned that the Prime Minister thinks homeless means ‘doesn’t have a country pile at the moment’.”
Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy said: “How much more out of touch could this Prime Minister be?
“After the Tories crashed the economy, sending mortgages and rents soaring, homelessness is on the rise this winter. So perhaps Rishi Sunak should focus on fixing this crisis rather than posing for excruciating photo opportunities.
“The last Labour Government nearly eliminated rough sleeping, the next one will finish the job and end it for good.”
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“Out of touch. Out of his depth. Time he was out of office. Time there was a General Election”, another Labour MP, Bill Esterson, added.
Journalist for German outlet Axel Springer SE Phil Hackemann however backed Mr Sunak, and said it’s “not true” that the Prime Minister was being inappropriate.
“The man specifically says that he is interested in financial services”, he noted.
“And I find it actually quite respectful and sympathetic that Rishi talks with him about that on eye level instead of assuming that he has no clue about it, only because he is homeless.”
It comes after Mr Sunak said his Government is open to talks with trade unions amid a bevy of strike action over Christmas.
He told Sky News the public sector pay issue was a “difficult” question, but he insisted that the actions taken by his Government were “fair”’
“The Government has acted fairly and reasonably in accepting all the recommendations of the independent public sector pay review bodies”, Mr Sunak said.
“I am sad and disappointed about the disruption that is being caused to so many people’s lives, particularly at Christmas time.”
