RISHI Sunak has denied supporting the break-up of the United Kingdom, insisting he is a “strong believer in our Union of four nations”.

The Chancellor spoke out after a quote attributed to a fellow Conservative read: “I remember discussing the future of the Union with Rishi and he argued that England should break away. He was advocating the end of the UK because it doesn’t make financial sense to him.

“He doesn’t have any love for the institution and I suspect he looks at it as he looks at anything: what’s the profit?”

However, Mr Sunak’s allies told the Financial Times he did not recall the conversation and was a staunch supporter of the Union “and the shared values it represents”.

The quote prompted the Chancellor to take to social media. He tweeted: “There are some comments about the Union falsely attributed to me in the FT today.

“My parents moved to the United Kingdom, not England, because the Union represented an idea of opportunity. I am a strong believer in our Union of four nations. Hope that clarifies that!”

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