Rishi Sunak has been criticized for an awkward exchange with homeless people while volunteering at a soup kitchen in front of TV cameras.
The Prime Minister visited a shelter on Friday and after a brief exchange he asked the man if he was involved in business. The man replied that he was homeless. Sunak then discussed his background in finance and asked if he would be “willing to get in”.
The man replied: “I don’t mind, but I don’t know, I want to get over Christmas first.”
Sunak asked a homeless man at a homeless shelter if he was “in business” and went on to talk about the financial services industry.very strange pic.twitter.com/jQPzg7RR4h
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) December 24, 2022
He explained that he hoped the charity would find him some temporary accommodation so he wouldn’t spend Christmas on the streets.
Labor deputy leader Angela Rayner described the exchange as harrowing, with Labor MP Stella Creasy saying: “Seeing this, I worry that the Prime Minister thinks being homeless means ‘ There is currently no state property’.”
Sunak used the trip to outline the government’s £2bn pledge to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over three years.