The Prime Minister thanked the hi-vis jacket-wearing men for their “important” questions without declaring that they were local Conservative Councillors Ross Hills and Ben Hall-Evans

Adam Bienkov bylinetimes.com 

Rishi Sunak has been accused of faking support for the Conservative party, after taking two questions from supposedly ordinary members of the public, who turned out to be Conservative Councillors.

Broadcasters on Thursday morning carried footage of an individual wearing a hi-vis jacket, asking the Prime Minister a question about his Rwanda scheme, during an event at a warehouse in Derbyshire.

The man told Sunak that “the biggest issue is going to be immigration over this election campaign” before asking him whether “your Rwanda plan is going to see results and stop the small boats coming.”

The Prime Minister thanked the man for his “important question.”

However, neither Sunak, nor broadcasters informed viewers that the man asking the question was actually Conservative Leicestershire County Councillor Ross Hills.

Hills confirmed to Byline Times that he had been the individual asking the question.

“That was me yes,” he told this paper, before confirming that he had been asked to appear at the event.

Asked whether the Conservative party had asked him to ask Sunak the specific question about Rwanda, he insisted that he had to get to work and ended the call.

Hills lists his job online as being a “part time dentist” alongside his job as a councillor.

This paper later identified a second hi-vis jacket-wearing individual asking Sunak a question at the event about the economy as local Erewash Conservative Councillor Ben Hall-Evans.

Hall-Evans, who lists his profession online as a ‘Functional Consultant’, told Sunak that “You’ve talked a lot about the economy, specific to everybody, the cost of living crisis… What’s been done and what sets you apart for the future to benefit that pound in the pocket.”

Sunak replied that this was a “good place to start” without revealing to viewers who the man was.

A Labour spokesperson said it showed that Rishi Sunak was “running scared” of the electorate.

“Rishi Sunak spent months dodging the verdict of voters and even now, he’s still running scared.

“The reality is that 14 years of Tory chaos have cost the country dearly and have left working people worse off.”

The Conservative party was contacted for comment.

The row comes after Byline Times revealed that the Conservative party had staged a fake “protest” against Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner.

This paper identified one of the protesters as local Conservative Councillor for Yarm, John Coulson.

Coulson admitted to this paper to taking part in the protest, alongside other local Conservative councillors.