Rishi Sunak pledges to release tax returns within first year as PM

Prime minister under pressure to make good on promise from leadership campaign

Sunak filed tax returns in the US while chancellor (POOL/AFP/Getty)

Rishi Sunak has promised that he will within the coming year become the first prime minister since 2016 to publish his tax returns in full.

Mr Sunak initially made the pledge during his unsuccessful Conservative leadership campaign against Liz Truss in the summer.

But he has not yet made the figures public, sparking a warning from Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain that failure to make good on the promise would risk doing even more damage to public trust in the Conservative Party.”

Mr Sunak’s personal financial affairs have come under intense scrutiny after it was revealed by The Independent that his wife Akshata held non-dom tax status, and it emerged that he held a Green Card and filed tax returns in the US while chancellor.

Details of the couple’s fortune, believed to total around £730m, are potentially politically sensitive at a time when the government’s autumn statement is expected to deliver a painful austerity package of tax rises and public spending cuts.

Asked during his visit to Indonesia for the G20 summit whether he still intended to make his tax returns public, Mr Sunak replied: “Yes, of course.”

He added: “That is the established precedent and I’d be very happy to follow the precedent.

“In terms of timing, I will have to speak to the Cabinet Office and figure out the right way that happens. But yeah, I have no problem doing that.”

Questioned on whether this will happen within his first year as PM, he said: “Yes, of course.”

Pushed on whether it will be before Christmas, he said: “I have to talk to the Cabinet Office to check on the precedent for how those things happen, but I have absolutely no trouble doing it.”

The ministerial code requires all ministers, including the prime minister, to provide information about their tax affairs for review by the Cabinet Office and the independent adviser on ministerial interests.

However, there is not legal requirement on them to make the information public, though some have done.

David Cameron published his returns after coming under great pressure as PM, Boris Johnson made his public while London mayor and George Osborne did the same as chancellor.

Theresa May published four years’ worth of returns during her campaign for the Tory leadership but refused to do so as PM when challenged by Jeremy Corbyn.