ishi sunak has reiterated that inflation must be brought under control before the Government could cut taxes, after a heart-pounding clash with Tory leadership candidates Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss.
In a combative appearance in Friday night’s first televised debate of the match, the former chancellor met his rivals by claiming that proposals to extend more loans to pay for tax cuts were a “fairy tale”.
Speaking while visiting Teessidewhere he received the support of the regional mayor Ben Houchen, Mr. Sunak repeated his message and said that the priority should be to contain the rising prices.
“I think inflation is the main economic priority that we have to deal with as a country.
“I want to get to grips with inflation because inflation makes everyone poorer,” he said.
“If we don’t get a grip on it now, it will last longer and that’s not good.
“Once we’ve done that, I’ll make tax cuts.”
Sunak topped the vote in the first two votes of Tory MPs, but polls have suggested he would face one of his main rivals – Secretary of State Mrs Truss or Secretary of State Penny Mordaunt – in a final second ballot of the full party membership.
However, he insisted that he remain the candidate best equipped to face Labor and win the general election.
“I will continue to advocate for my candidacy and I believe I am the best person possible to help our party defeat Keir Starmer and defeat the Labor Party in a general election,” the Richmond MP said.
“That’s what the new leader should be able to do. They also need to restore confidence, rebuild the economy and reunite our country, and I believe I am the best place to do it all.”
After the televised showdown on Channel 4, Mr Sunak’s campaign team claimed he had “unambiguously won” the debate.
A quick poll of 1,159 viewers by Opinium pollsters put him in second place, with 24% saying he was the strongest performer, behind Tom Tugendhat – seen as the outsider in the contest – with 36%.
Ms Mordaunt, the Secretary of State for International Trade, was on par with former Equalities Minister Kemi Baden for third place at 12%, while Ms Truss, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, finished fifth with just 7%.
Meanwhile, a poll of more than 4,400 people by JL Partners for The Sunday Telegraph found that of those who had heard of all five candidates, Mr Sunak had the highest rating among Tory voters.
Of those who voted Conservative in 2019, 48% thought the former chancellor would make a good prime minister, compared to 39% for Ms Truss, 33% for Ms Mordaunt, 29% for Mr Tugendhat and 21% for Ms Badenoch.
Tugendhat, the only candidate with no ministerial experience, said on Saturday that he is determined to make Brexit happen, despite being a strong supporter of Remain in the 2016 referendum.
He said there are still important issues related to the functioning of the Northern Ireland Protocol that need to be resolved with the EU.
“One of the other things I’m going to take care of is Brexit,” he told GB News.
“What Boris Johnson most of the Brexit has done, let’s face it, there’s still Northern Ireland, and that’s a really big problem. Let’s not kid ourselves that it will be easy, because it isn’t.”
Despite seeing his number of votes plummet in the second ballot of MPs, in which he finished fifth, the former army officer said he had no intention of dropping out.
“I’ve never turned down a challenge because the odds were against me. I’m not going to start now,” he said.
Tugendhat, who says he is offering a clear break from Mr Johnson’s premiership, received applause from studio audiences in the TV debate when he was the only candidate to answer with an unequivocal “no” when asked whether the prime minister would honest man.