Nadhim Zahawi. Photo: PA.
A mega-rich Tory minister’s family have just bought a second supermarket – as many struggle to pay shopping bills amid a cost of living crunch.
Nadhim Zahawi’s wife Lana now owns two superstores as part of a £100 million property empire, the Mirror reported.
Last September, she purchased a £6.3 million plot which includes a giant Co-op and car park in Cambridgeshire.
It was purchased through Zahawi and Zahawi Ltd, a company controlled by the education secretary’s wife, the day before he was appointed to his job.
Zahawi was a director and founder of the company – but stood down in 2018 upon joining the government.
Another firm controlled by Lana owns land worth £18 million containing an Asda megastore in the West Midlands.
In the past six years, the couple’s companies have spent over £80 million on commercial properties.
They own five residences worth £17 million – three in London, one in Dubai and one in Warwickshire.
It comes as Sajid Javid has suggested the Government’s planned income tax cut should be brought forward to next year, if circumstances allow.
In March, Chancellor Rishi Sunak pledged to cut the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 19p in the pound before the end of the current parliament, in 2024.
He said this was “fully costed”, and represented a “£5 billion tax cut for over 30 million people”.
Since then, pressure has continued to build on Johnson from within his own ranks, with unrest over the partygate saga exacerbated by senior civil servant Sue Gray’s findings on the matter, and concerns over high levels of tax and spending.
This culminated in a bruising Tory revolt against Johnson’s leadership earlier this week, with 148 of his own MPs voting against him in a confidence ballot.
Asked whether cuts in income tax could be brought forward to next year, Mr Javid told The Times that he knows the Chancellor will want to slash taxes “as soon as he can”.
“He set out a plan, and I’m sure he would agree that he would want to deliver on that as quickly as possible,” the Health Secretary said.
“And if that can be brought forward, of course, it should be brought forward.”
He argued the “best way” to finance public services was to have a “dynamic, low-tax economy that generates growth”.
“That growth will naturally lead to rising revenues for the state that can fund the services,” he said.
“I’m a low-tax Tory — it’s one of the reasons I’m a Conservative and I want to see a small state that focuses on delivery of the things that really matter. And I want to see taxes as low as possible.”
It comes after he added his voice to calls for tax cuts on Wednesday, saying he would “like to see us do more”.
Javid acknowledged the pandemic had resulted in “challenges to the public finances” but told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I would like to see cuts where they’re possible.
“And I know that this is something the Government is taking very seriously and I know that it’s something that the Chancellor will look at.”
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