Rishi Sunak majorly puts his foot in it as he mixes up the name of two northern towns

Rishi Sunak has left people cringing after he mixed up the names of two northern towns live on air.

Speaking about towns receiving extra funding as part of his levelling up agenda and budget on BBC Breakfast this morning, Sunak appeared as if he hadn’t had his own breakfast after he waxed lyrical about how the government was going to support the town he was in, repeatedly forgetting he wasn’t actually in it.

He 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 the 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, the world-famous Burnley Market – benefitting from £20 million of investment.

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

So far, so slick - except he wasn’t “here in Burnley”, which is in Lancaster. He was actually 20 miles down the road in Greater Manchester’s Bury. Awkward.

Reacting to his gaffe, people found it pretty awkward:

During the budget yesterday Sunak did announce that Bury and Burnley were among the towns receiving funding so at least he got that right.

He also announced changes to alcohol taxes, flights and universal credit, but will people remember the intricacies of his various policies or his poor geography of northern England?