It was meant to be a chance to turn the tide of public opinion – instead Rishi Sunak unwittingly highlighted the heavy-handed affordability checks his own government has proposed.

In a TalkTV interview with Piers Morgan on Monday, Sunak was asked if he was prepared to bet £1,000 that migrant deportation flights to Rwanda would take off before the next general election.

Sunak seemed to accept the bet by shaking hands and told Morgan: “I want to get the people on the planes. I’m working incredibly hard to get people on the planes.”

Remarkably, though, the level of stake agreed between Sunak and Morgan would be enough to see the loser face an enhanced financial check under the government’s proposals if it had been placed with an online bookmaker, having hit the threshold for ‘binge gambling’ with a net loss of £1,000 in 24 hours.

According to the white paper, an enhanced financial check would assess “whether a customer’s level of spend is likely to be harmful to them”, involving a review of their financial data that could include the customer being asked to provide bank statements and P60s.

Get involved:

Affordability checks: what your MP needs to know ahead of the big debate on February 26 

How to contact your MP to encourage them to participate in key debate on affordability checks 

Read more . . .

‘Please, please, carefully consider the damage you are going to do to the racing industry’ – Middleham’s plea to Rishi Sunak    

‘The more support we can get the better’ – training greats back calls to press MPs to engage in affordability checks debate 

Sir Mark Prescott issues rallying call for punters and racing to press MPs to attend crucial debate on affordability checks  

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