Rishi Sunak challenged after he upgraded the electricity grid to heat his North Yorkshire swimming pool

Rishi Sunak has brushed off criticisms of his new private heated swimming pool at a time when many families are struggling to keep their homes warm.

The Guardian reported that the 40ft pool built in the grounds of his constituency home in North Yorkshire used so much energy the local electricity network had to be upgraded to cope with the demand.

Challenged about the development during his visit to San Diego for a joint UK-US-Australia summit, the Prime Minister dismissed suggestions he was “detached” from the concerns of ordinary voters.

“I absolutely understand that the number one challenge people are facing is with the cost of living and particularly energy bills,” he told BBC News.

“So what do I do? We tax energy companies more and we’ve used that money to reduce people’s energy bills by £1,000.

“That’s the actions of this government, the actions of me as Prime Minister and chancellor, I think people can see from that that I do take this really seriously.”

According to the Guardian Mr Sunak has had a gym and tennis court as well as the pool built in the grounds of his grade II listed manor house in his Richmond constituency.

The paper said the Prime Minister will pay the cost of the electricity upgrade work – estimated to have cost tens of thousands of pounds – out of his own pocket along with the hefty heating bills.