Liz Truss It seemed to have increased her chances of beating Rishi Sunak and becoming Prime Minister tonight after coming out on top when they were first grilled by Tory members.
The Foreign Secretary has been more relaxed than previous somewhat wooden forays into the campaign, playing out her local roots in her home city of Leeds.
She joked about her time in the city before vowing she’d beat “patronizing, plastic patriot” Keir Starmer in the next election if she became prime minister.
She was also praised for saying she was proud to have worked for Boris Johnson — and for supporting gender-specific toilets.
In contrast, Mr. Sunak faced some tough questions about his role in Mr. Johnson’s political downfall. A party member told him that “a lot of people think you stabbed him in the back,” adding: “I’m not quite sure what planet you’re on.”
Sections of the crowd at the Conservative Party hustings clapped as host Nick Ferrari said Boris Johnson would be included in the vote.
The LBC presenter referred to reports that about 14,000 members of the Conservative Party wanted Mr Johnson’s name on the ballot.
When asked what he would say to those MEPs, Mr Sunak said: ‘Whether he’s on the ballot or not, ultimately you have to be able to gain your MEPs’ confidence in Parliament, and we got to a point where almost 60 of them had resigned from government.’
He also said he would not give outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson a job in his cabinet, but promised to support the return of high schools.
Under questioning, Ms Truss played out her loyalty to Mr Johnson by saying she had been “proud” to work for him and “has always been a fan.”
The hustings was the first of 12 allowing party supporters across the country to poll the final two candidates before voting for the next party leader on September 2 and the prime minister closing on September 2.
The Foreign Secretary has been more relaxed than previous somewhat wooden forays into the campaign, playing out her local roots in her home city of Leeds.
She joked about her time in the city before vowing she’d beat “patronizing, plastic patriot” Keir Starmer in the next election if she became prime minister.
In contrast, Mr. Sunak faced some tough questions about his role in Mr. Johnson’s political downfall.
A party member told him that “a lot of people think you stabbed him in the back,” adding: “I’m not quite sure what planet you’re on.”
Mrs Truss arrived at the debate at the Elland Road site in Leeds United with her mother Patricia. Taking the stage playing her local roots, she said she wanted the UK to ‘channel the spirit of Don Revie’ – a controversial former manager of Leeds United and England.
“And, my friends, we can beat Keir Starmer, who is a condescending, plastic patriot,” she added.
Earlier, Mr. Sunak has defended his tax plans. He was the first to address the audience, speaking without notes while repeating his campaign mantra: inflation is the most dangerous economic problem facing the nation.
“We have to contain inflation – it is the enemy that makes everyone poorer,” he told the audience.
‘We are going to lower the VAT on fuel. But what I won’t do is start a deluge of tens and tens of billions of pounds of unfunded pledges and put them on the country’s credit card, and pass them on to our children and our grandchildren to pick up the bill.
‘That is not true. That is not responsible, and certainly not conservative. But once we get a grip on inflation and ensure that mortgage rates don’t rise and cripple people, I will of course cut taxes.’
Ms Truss also sought to bolster her lead in the polls by fully supporting Northern Powerhouse Rail and pledging to make ‘turbocharge investments’ in the north of England.
During a visit to the city of Yorkshire, Ms Truss insisted she is “completely committed” to the plan to improve rail links between Liverpool and Leeds, originally announced by Boris Johnson but later scaled back.
She told reporters: ‘I grew up in Leeds, I know how bad the transport is and honestly it hasn’t gotten much better since I was a teenager taking the bus into Leeds city centre.
‘What I want to see is really fantastic rail transport, better roads so that people can get to work’.
When asked how she would pay for the scheme, given the huge tax cuts she has promised, Ms Truss said: ‘The taxes I am cutting are affordable within our budget.
“By creating new low-tax investment zones in places like West Yorkshire, enabling the post-Brexit reforms and unleashing more investment from the city, we’ll grow the economy faster – that’ll bring in more tax revenue, and that’s what will tell us able to pay for those projects’.
The Foreign Minister arrived tonight with her mother Patricia
Labor shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh accused Ms Truss of offering only ‘weasel words’ when delivering new lines.
The Secretary of State also pledged to “fix the Treasury’s financing formula” if given the No. 10 keys to ensure the region gets a “fairer share” of funds.
Mrs Truss took a thinly veiled swipe at Mr Sunak, who is the MP for the North Yorkshire seat in Richmond, when asked if he was equally committed to the railway project, saying: ‘The thing with me is that I am willing to adopt the Whitehall orthodoxy, I am willing to challenge the groupthink that has not invested enough in this part of the country for decades.”
The Secretary of State’s campaign was also supported by the endorsement of Jake Berry, leader of the Northern Research Group (NRG) of Tory MPs.
He described her as ‘the person with energy to bring action and delivery to ensure we take our UK to the next level’.
Ms. Truss’ promises of massive tax cuts have helped her come out on top in opinion polls and member surveys.
However, new YouGov polls suggest Mr Sunak has a significant lead over his rival among the swing voters – 2019 Tory voters leaving the party, even though both candidates are “significantly unpopular” with the public as a whole.
The poll is a boost for Mr Sunak, who is trying to regain his footing after being accused of ‘flip-flopping’ on his fiscal policy as he pledged to temporarily cut VAT on utility bills, despite repeatedly branding Mrs. Truss’ tax-cutting plans as ‘comforting fairy tales’.
Johnson mocked his former chancellor over the U-turn, telling the Commonwealth Business Forum in Birmingham that his successor would “continue with the same programme”, including “eliminating every barrier from Solvency II to MiFID to fuel VAT” would be easier than we thought’.
In his latest policy announcement, Mr Sunak said he would protect the “precious” green belt as he argued more homes could be built on brownfield sites, a strategy described by critics as “mere rhetoric” that will do nothing to solve the housing crisis.
In the latest sign of the bitter, personal nature of the struggle for Tory leadership, Mr Sunak was again attacked by Nadine Dorries for his disloyalty to the Prime Minister.
The Culture Secretary, an ally of Mr Johnson and now a supporter of Mrs Truss, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I am bitterly disappointed that Boris Johnson was ousted by a brutal coup d’état, as he was, largely led by Rishi Sunak.’
She defended her previous mockery of the former millionaire’s chancellor’s expensive clothes, saying she had warned that a contest to replace Mr Johnson would “unleash the dogs of hell.”
It is the first of 12 sessions for party believers across the country to interview the last two candidates before voting for the next party leader and prime minister on Sept. 2.
Sunak, who admitted to being the ‘underdog’ in the match in an interview with Conservative Home, was praised by senior supporter George Eustice for his ‘very good judgement’.
The Environment Minister told Sky News: ‘I think this is what our country needs as we try to get out of these difficult times’.
Former head whip Mark Harper, another of Mr Sunak’s ally, defended the ex-chancellor’s decision to announce his pledge to cut VAT on domestic energy bills for a year at this stage of the race.
Asked why Mr Sunak didn’t start his campaign with those plans, Mr Harper told BBC Newsnight: ‘He announced it because it looks like the energy price cap could rise hundreds of pounds higher than we thought.
“And he’s always said very consistently that if he had to do more, he would.”
The strikes in Leeds come as mayors from across northern England have written to the two contenders expressing concern over the government’s plans for transport to the north.
Andy Burnham, Tracy Brabin, Steve Rotheram, Oliver Coppard and Jamie Driscoll called on the winning candidate to meet with them to agree on a ‘better way forward for the north’.
“This is a crucial decision that will affect the lives of future generations of Northerners. We owe it to them to show the highest possible ambition for what the north of England can be in the future,” they wrote.
Both candidates were urged by consumer champion Martin Lewis to work out an emergency package to help families ‘paniced’ over sky-high utility bills.