The car which Rishi Sunak was pictured filling with petrol to highlight his 5p cut to fuel duty last night did not belong to the chancellor, it has emerged.
The photograph, posted on Mr Sunak’s social media feeds at the moment when the cut announced in Wednesday’s spring statement took effect, sparked incredulity among Twitter users
Many did not believe that the chancellor – a former banker whose wife is a multi-millionaire – drives a Kia Rio, a modest family hatchback which retails from around £13,000 new.
One tweeted: “Sunak definitely pulled up in his Tesla and gave the person in the Kia Rio £500 so he could fill up their car for the photo op.”
And another wrote: “Sunak does not in any lifetime drive a Kia Rio, I fail to believe it. Another trying the impress and come across as a normal fella.
“A charlatan of the highest order, don’t fall for the spin and mirrors.”
The photo was one of 34 glossy and artfully staged snaps taken by a taxpayer-funded photographer and released on the Treasury Flickr feed to illustrate Mr Sunak’s spring statement mini-budget on Wednesday.
Four showed the chancellor filling the shiny red car at the pump of a Sainsbury’s forecourt in New Cross, south London, his shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal a set of wristbands.
Others depicted him apparently shopping inside the store.
It emerged today that the Kia car used for the photo-shoot belonged to a Sainsbury’s employee, but The Independent understands that Mr Sunak paid for the petrol from his own pocket.
The picture was released on Twitter on the dot of 6pm, when the 5p cut in fuel duty came into effect, meaning that the chancellor must have missed out by moments on benefiting from his tax change, which would have saved him around £2-3 on the cost of a tankful.
