Rishi Sunak accused his Conservative leadership candidate rivals of promoting “socialism” by promising unfunded tax cuts, as the party’s deep divisions over economic policy were exposed in a moody televised debate.
As contenders repeatedly clashed over taxes and spending in the ITV debate, Liz Truss confronted her former cabinet colleague, saying, “Rishi, you have raised taxes to the highest level in 70 years. .This will not drive economic growth.
“The fact is that raising taxes right now will stifle economic growth,” he added.
Truss has promised tax cuts worth up to £ 30bn, suggesting they can be paid off through additional loans and faster growth.
Sunak insisted that immediate tax cuts would have a cost, however, in “higher inflation, higher mortgage rates and eroded savings.”
“And you know what, this economy of something for nothing is conservative, it’s socialism,” he said. “If we’re not for solid money, what’s the point of the Conservative party?”
The struggle for leadership, triggered by the reluctant resignation of Boris Johnson as a Conservative leader 10 days ago, has pitted current and former cabinet mates against each other.
Truss, which has the support of Johnson supporters, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries, has been especially defined against Sunak, who led the first two rounds of voting among MPs.
However, he has strongly defended his track record as chancellor, including the decision to increase national insurance quotes.
In addition to questioning his colleagues’ tax-cutting plans, Sunak also accepted Penny Mordaunt’s suggestion on Sunday that he could abandon one of his tax rules: the promise to only apply for a loan for investments, not for day-to-day spending, to enable the Treasury. spend more on dealing with the cost of living.
Challenged in this regard, Mordaunt said, “Too many chancellors have had too many tax rules that they then had to abandon because they couldn’t comply,” Sunak replied, “Literally, Jeremy Corbyn didn’t think that. correct approach “.
Taxes and the economy have been at the center of the contest, with Sunak the only candidate who did not promise immediate tax cuts, but will not tell “fairy tales” about what is affordable.
With each candidate a chance to question one of his teammates, three of Sunak’s four rivals turned against him.
Kemi Badenoch asked her why she had not taken further action against Covid loan fraud, even though she and other ministers had raised the issue with her during the pandemic.
He said: “This is not entirely correct,” he stressed the speed with which the plan had to be deployed. Truss asked Sunak if he was still in favor of investing in China, and Mordaunt asked if he had done enough as chancellor to fund defense spending.
Sunak turned to Truss and asked, “Have you been both a Liberal Democrat and a remnant? I just wonder which of them regretted you the most?” The foreign minister said she had not been born into a conservative home and had made a political “journey”.
He also returned to the family theme of his Leeds comprehensive school, where he states that his classmates were disappointed by low expectations, which contributed to his right-wing movement.
Shortly before the debate, Sunak’s team had released a peculiar Pathé News-style black and white video drawing attention to the fact that it supported Brexit in 2016, unlike Truss.
Conor McGinn, deputy national campaign coordinator for Labor, said his style “feels right for the guy who as chancellor has brought us the highest taxes and the biggest drop in living standards in 70 years … Rishi Sunak has taken us back to the 50’s. “
One of the few striking moments of consensus in the debate, in which the candidates repeatedly clashed, was when presenter Julie Etchingham asked them to raise their hand if they welcomed Boris Johnson into their cabinet.
None of them did, although Mordaunt said he “did Brexit.” All five also said they would not call a general election to give them a mandate if they won the leadership contest this fall.
Tom Tugendhat attacked his rivals for staying in government backing Johnson, saying, “Even very good people gave credibility to the chaos.”
Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, who supports Sunak, previously suggested that Truss ’history in government belied his claim to be a tax challenger. “Liz can answer for her policies and her history; she was chief secretary of the Treasury. People can see if spending and the number of people in the civil service increased or decreased,” she told Sophy Ridge and Sky News. “Did you cut taxes at that time?”
The debate was the second of three televised clashes between the candidates. Half of the original field of 10 contenders, including Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt, have already been eliminated, after two rounds of voting.
On Monday, Tuesday and, if necessary on Wednesday, more votes will be held among the deputies, and the last two candidates will be presented to the Conservative members, who will make the final decision before 5 September.
A new online poll of party members, published Sunday by the Conservative Home website, suggested that Mordaunt’s popularity could have peaked. It showed that Truss beat Sunak by 49% to 42% and Mordaunt by 48% to 41% in face-to-face comparisons.
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Mordaunt had previously criticized what she called the “toxic policy” of race and “defamation” against her.
Documents leaked to the Sunday Times suggested that Mordaunt was willing to remove some, if not all, of the medical requirements for people who chose to change gender.
Badenoch, his successor as equality minister, who is also running for office, has said Mordaunt’s stance in the past was to boost self-identification. This contradicts Mordaunt’s insistence in the Channel 4 debate on Friday that she “never was in favor of self-identification.”
Badenoch told the Sunday Times: “I won’t call her a liar. I think it’s very possible she didn’t really understand what she was signing. It’s a very complex area.”