Rishi Sunak repeatedly mistakes Bury for another Northern town while stood in Bury Market

Rishi Sunak appeared to confuse Bury with Burnley while giving a television interview from Bury Market this morning. 

The Chancellor appeared on BBC Breakfast to discuss his Autumn Budget and ongoing issues such as the rising cost of living, rising tax and the current cost of train travel across the UK, as well as meet and chat with local stall holders.

However, despite conducting his interview from the popular Bury Market, Sunak was evidently a little unsure on where exactly he was. 

When answering a question about the Government’s so-called levelling-up agenda, the Chancellor said: “It is not just about being in the North by the way, we’re here in Burnley but if you are growing up in a village in the South West or even on the South Coast, people want to feel opportunity is there for them, wherever they happen to be.

“I put it down to two things. One is having pride in the place you call home and a lot of what we announced yesterday, the levelling-up fund – bids like Burnley Market, world famous Burnley Market, benefiting from £20million of investment.

“That’s going to create jobs. It is about improving the everyday infrastructure of our communities.”

Of course, people haven’t reacted too warmly to Sunak’s blunder, with many frustrated Mancunians taking to Twitter to voice their disapproval. 

One person wrote, “Just sums the tories up,” while another commented, “Waking up to @RishiSunak banging on about being in Burnley market when he was actually in Bury market tells us everything we need to know about this government. They just think everywhere up north is the same place.”

Putting his location blunder to one side, Sunak was also quizzed on his decision to cut air passenger duty (APD) for domestic flights in his Budget ahead of the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow. 

He said: “Of course, it is right that we are consistent with our environmental goals so let me just talk a little about that… Aviation in general only accounts for about 8% of our overall emissions, and of that 8% a fraction – just 4% or 5% – comes from domestic aviation, so it is a tiny part of our emissions.

“So, yes, we’re doing this to support domestic aviation, and regional airports will benefit from this, but we are also introducing a brand new band for ultra long-haul travel.”