LONDON, July 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Britain’s two prime ministerial contenders clashed fiercely over tax, China and character in their first head-to-head televised debate, as Rishi Sunak seeks to peg back the frontrunner Liz Truss.
The primetime debate kicked off a crucial 12-day period featuring three such live TV duels and four husting events in front of Conservative party members who will decide the contest and begin receiving their postal votes next week.
The weeks-old Tory leadership contest to replace outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson has turned increasingly bitter, with both camps fiercely briefing against each other.
Monday’s BBC debate showcased that acrimony, with former finance minister Sunak savaging Foreign Secretary Truss’ plans to slash taxes immediately – a key dividing line between the pair.
“I don’t think that’s right, I don’t think it’s responsible and it’s certainly not Conservative,” he interjected as she detailed her proposals.
“If we follow Rishi’s plans, we are headed for a recession,” Truss replied, accusing him of raising taxes “to the highest rate for 70 years”.
“I would act immediately – I understand that people … are struggling,” Truss added.
The leadership contest comes as Britain grapples with a cost-of-living crisis that has seen inflation surge to a 40-year high.
Sunak has vowed to curb this before cutting taxes, and called Truss’ plans “a short-term sugar rush”.
Opinion polls put Truss well ahead among the Tories’ roughly 200,000 members, after she and Sunak emerged as the run-off candidates in a series of votes by Tory MPs.
The winner will be announced on Sept 5.
A snap poll showed Conservative voters thought Truss edged Monday’s debate, by 47 to 38 per cent.
Over the weekend, Sunak announced plans to crack down on China’s influence, calling it the “number-one threat” to domestic and global security.
That followed Truss accusing him of being soft on UK adversaries when he was finance minister.
“I’m delighted that you’ve come around to my way of thinking,” she told Sunak as the issue featured at the debate.
Truss insisted his “tougher stance” had been driven by her Foreign Office tenure, but that as recently as a month ago Sunak was “pushing for closer trade relationships with China”.
Sunak said she herself had been “on a journey” after previously wanting close ties with Beijing.
The pair’s face-off was held in Stoke-on-Trent, in front of an audience of people who all voted Conservative at the last general election in 2019.
They will next debate again on Tuesday evening. — NNN-AGENCIES
