Rishi Sunak will have to pay £13,000-a-year to keep a new swimming pool at his Yorkshire mansion warm, it is being reported.
It emerged last year that the Chancellor of the Exchequer was planning on spending £250,000 to build the pool at his £2 million Georgian manor near Northallerton in the county.
The size of the bill, which is six-and-a-half times the average energy bill for a family home, has been branded ‘disgraceful’ by people in his constituency of Richmond in North Yorkshire.
One trader said they should ‘fill it [the pool] up with mud’, while other said it showed the multi-millionaire politician as being out of touch with the public, the Mirror reports.
It comes amid rising energy prices, the cost-of-living crisis and recent rows over the financial affairs of Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy, who between them own properties in London, Yorkshire and California.
The multi-millionaire, who made a fortune in investment banking before becoming an MP, will be paying the equivalent of a third of the average UK salary on heating his pool – the average full-time worker is paid just over £38,131-a-year according to the ONS.
This also roughly the same as the annual salary for part-time workers in the UK, who get paid on average £13,549-a-year.
Mr Sunak has come under pressure in recent months to help millions of people who are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, as surging energy prices and inflation take thousands of pounds out of people’s pockets.
This has been followed by revelations that his wife, who lives with him and their two children, has non-domiciled status and so has avoided paying tax on foreign income, while Mr Sunak himself held a US green card while being Chancellor.
Rishi Sunak is building a £250,000 swimming pool, gym and tennis court complex at his Georgian manor in North Yorkshire (pictured)
The Chancellor, pictured here with his wife Akshata Murthy, has come under fire from constituents who have called him out of touch for building a swimming pool that could cost £13,000-a-year to heat
The L-shaped pool house, which is under construction after permission was given last year, is set to inlcude a hot tub, utility and changing area, and a plant room
Work has already started on construction of the swimming pool, gym and tennis court at the Sunak’s North Yorkshire manor
The 41-year-old applied to Hambleton council to build an L-shaped pool house, which will include a hot tub, utility and changing area and plant room, last year.
These plans, which included a 12-metre by five-metre swimming pool, were later approved by the council.
It is thought a pool that size would cost just under £13,000-a-year in electricity to maintain, if it was heated to 25C every day.
It is more than six times the average annual energy bill for a family home under the new price cap, which came into effect in April.
However, the difference could drop even further if Ofgem, the energy watchdog, decides to raise the cap again in the Autumn, which would lead to an increase in energy bills for millions of homes.
Reports it will cost £13,000-a-year to heat did not go down well among members of his constituency, especially after the sharp rise in energy bills which came into effect earlier this month.
Retired steel worker Leslie Porter, 69, told the Mirror: ‘Some people are having to choose between heating and eating. Bills are all rising and he does this. It’s obscene.’
Receptionist Hayley Hadden added: ‘He is a millionaire many times over and it looks like he is rubbing our noses in it. He doesn’t have to worry about paying his bills.’
Reports it will cost £13,000-a-year to heat did not go down well among members of his constituency, especially after the sharp rise in energy bills which came into effect earlier this month
The multi-millionaire will have to shell out more than six times the average annual household energy bill just to keep the new swimming pool warm
It is one of a number of properties owned by Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy, who is the daughter of one of the richest men in India and has recently come under fire for her ‘non-dom’ tax status.
The family had been living in a flat above No 10 Downing Street due to Mr Sunak’s role as Chancellor.
However, they moved to their £6.6 million mews house in Kensington amid the furore over Ms Murthy’s tax status.
They also own a £5.5 million home in Santa Monica in California, where Mr Sunak has been tipped to live if he decides to quit politics in the UK.
Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy, pictured here in central London, also own a £6.6 million mews house in Kensington
The Sunak family also owns a £5.5 million home in Santa Monica, California (pictured here)
Mr Sunak, who worked as an investment banker for firms California, India and Britain, including Goldman Sachs, is known to use the Yorkshire property when Parliament is not in session and he doesn’t need to be in London.
In the meantime, he had been living in a flat above No 10 with his family, but they have now moved to their Kensington home.
It is believed that Mr Sunak will remain at the Downing Street flat during the week and will join his wife and family in the mews mansion at the weekends.
The Sunaks are thought to have decided to move to be closer to their daughter’s school but the timing was unfortunate when removal vans were seen leaving Downing Street just as the Chancellor was facing calls to step down over his wife claiming ‘non-dom’ status to avoid paying full UK tax.
She has since volunteered to pay UK tax on all her worldwide income, though she will keep her non-dom status which allows her to take advantage of India’s zero-rate inheritance tax on her family’s business empire.
Now she is happily ensconced in her four-bedroom, two-bathroom mews home, reportedly bought for cash in 2010 a year after their wedding in India.
Mr Sunak has been contacted for comment.