UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. ANI
London: Rishi Sunak has faced a backlash for being fined for a second time, with police handing him a fixed penalty notice over not wearing a seatbelt.
The local police force where Rishi Sunak filmed a social media video in a moving car without a seatbelt on Friday fined the British Prime Minister for the legal breach.
Sir Chris Bryant, Labour MP for Rhondda, tweeted “Sunak promised honesty, integrity and accountability on the steps of Number 10. Not only has he been fined again for breaking the law, but Zahawi has been fined as well. It’s time they all went. It’s time for a general election.”
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner called the PM a ‘total liability’. Rayner tweeted: “Rishi Sunak is a total liability.”
Labour MP Cat Smith said that no one above the law. She thanked police for road safety work. “Thank you Lancashire Police for all you do in road safety campaigning all year round. Also, reminding us no one is above the law. Thank you,” she tweeted.
The Blackpool South MP tweeted: “@LancsPolice do an amazing job, but I’m sure their time is better spent investigating serious crime which impacts on my constituents.
Lancashire Police, which had been “looking into” the matter, confirmed it had issued a fixed penalty notice to Sunak, which involves a 100 pounds fine for not wearing a seatbelt in a moving car.
“Following the circulation of a video on social media showing an individual failing to wear a seat belt while a passenger in a moving car in Lancashire we have today (Friday, January 20) issued a 42-year-old man from London with a conditional offer of fixed penalty,” Lancashire Police said in a statement.
On Thursday, Sunak apologised for a “brief error of judgment” in removing his seatbelt to film a video while driving in north-west England. “That was a brief error of judgement. The PM removed his seatbelt to film a small clip. He fully accepts this was a mistake and apologises about it,” Sunak’s spokesperson said.
“The Prime Minister believes everyone should wear a seatbelt,” the spokesperson added. In the UK, passengers caught failing to wear a seatbelt while in a car, unless covered by a valid medical exemption, can be given an on-the-spot fine of 100 pounds, increasing to 500 pounds if the case goes to court.
Sunak filmed the video while seated in the back seat of a moving car to promote his government’s new Levelling Up Fund announcements to fund over 100 projects around the country. Police motorbikes could be seen escorting his car as he addressed the camera.
The Opposition Labour Party said the latest incident added to “endless painful viewing” after a previous video appeared to show Sunak struggling to make a contactless payment with his card.
“Rishi Sunak doesn’t know how to manage a seatbelt, his debit card, a train service, the economy, this country. This list is growing every day, and it’s making for endless painful viewing,” a Labour spokesperson said.
It came at the end of a day during which he also came under Opposition fire for using a Royal Air Force (RAF) jet to fly to the north of the country. Downing Street insisted the use of the aircraft was to ensure the best use of the Prime Minister’s time.
“It seems like the PM is getting too used to flying around in private jets that he’s forgotten to wear a seatbelt in a car,” said Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper.
The UK’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said “everyone should take seatbelt laws seriously – whoever and wherever they are”.
With input from agencies.
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.