Our Next P.M.

The last of the TV debates


The Billionaire Ex-Chancellor ... with an eye of a Tax dodging his financial obligations ... or was that his wife?
Or the Thatcher loving Liz Truss, who was also in the Boris Cabinet and indeed Government positions that have led us to our dismal condition

 

SUNAK:
wants to keep on track, put up Taxes, and the Cost of living rises
TRUSS:
wants to cut Taxes, and interst rates to rise

 

What SUNAK is coming across as ,is a big mouthed (near to bullying) overtaking aggressive individual
TRUSS looks to be remained calmer, concise and struggling to get a word in

 

very sad ,,and the next genral election is sced for 2025 ,so we have another 3 years of these numbskulls

 

'Nothing conservative' about your plans, Sunak tells Truss
SUNAK: says there was "a bill we needed to pay" for Covid, and insists this must not be "put on our country's credit card".
- "I don't think that's right, I don't think that's responsible and that's certainly not conservative."

TRUSS: responds she would start paying back Covid debt within three years, which Mr Sunak says is "simply not right, you promised almost £40billion of unfunded tax cuts. £40billion more borrowing! That is the country's credit card, it's our children and grandchildren."

"Rishi, that is not true," says Ms Truss, adding Covid was a "once in 100 years event" and citing the OECD describing Mr Sunak's policies as "contractionary" - meaning recession.

"There's nothing conservative about it," snipes Mr Sunak.

 

'Negative, declinist language'
SUNAK tells TRUSS: "We need to get a grip of inflation and if we don't do that now it's going to cost you and your plans, your own economic adviser has said that would lead to mortgage rates, interest rates going up to seven per cent. That's thousands of pounds in their mortgage bill. It's going to tip millions of people into misery and it means we're going to have absolutely no chance of winning the next election either."

TRUSS replies: "Rishi is talking about raising taxes at a time when there is a global economic crisis."

Mr Sunak interrupts, repeating the words of Ms Truss's economic adviser.

"Can you let me respond," says Ms Truss. "Please let me respond. You were talking about putting up taxes. We know there are companies here in Stoke-on-Trent... that depend on international investors. We know that those jobs are needed for the future and to give people opportunities. I don't believe this negative, declinist language..."

"It's not mine, it's your own adviser!" snaps back Mr Sunak. Bad-tempered stuff so far...

 

Sunak: Truss's tax plans 'not moral, not sound'
SUNAK: points to Patrick Mitford's comments that interest rates may have to go up to as much as seven per cent.

"This is the problem to your plan, it's going to push people into misery..." he says.

"I don't accept those points," TRUSS insists. "Any economist knows that taxes are completely different from interest rates.
This Chancellor has raised taxes to the highest level in 70 years and now we're set for a recession.

 

'Crashing the economy is a massive mistake'
TRUSS: notes there is still "headroom" to pay debt down after three years.

She is asked by Faisal Islam how it saves any money. Ms Truss says her government would "optimise how we take out those debts... When you have a major world event, a major economic shock, trying to pay back the debt as quickly as possible is not the right thing to do economically.

"Crashing the economy in order to pay a debt back quicker is a massive mistake and what I know is that mistake won't just be felt by people living in London, it will be felt by people in towns and cities right across the United Kingdom."

SUNAK: warns the "mistake we will make is at a time when inflation is already high... does anyone think that the sensible thing to do is go on a massive borrowing spree worth tens of billions of pounds and fuel inflation even further?

 

The challengers clashed over their diverging tax policies in their first head-to-head debate of the final in the Tory leadership contest.
While TRUSS - has set out an estimated £38billion of tax cuts
SUNAK - insists he would only cut taxes once inflation was under control and suggested his rival was promising "fairy tales"

 

Dig at Dominic Raab from TRUSS
On a 2011 book which claimed "British idlers [were] among the worst in the world", Ms Truss said: "Each author wrote a different chapter. Dominic Raab wrote that chapter - he’s backing Rishi Sunak."

Mr Sunak says if you want to drive growth, "it's about so much more than tax - it's about bringing the change we need to make sure our children are equipped for digital industries, it's about making sure we can help people retrain in the middle of their careers.

"You talk about bean counting as if it's somehow not a conservative thing to do to make sure we pay for the things we make money on."

 

TRUSS promises low-tax investment zones
On levelling up, Rishi Sunak points to the £50million-plus sum he secured as Chancellor in investment for Stoke-on-Trent.
Tax cuts on business investment are what businesses want, Mr Sunak says.

"What people want to see is urgent action, they don't want promises tomorrow, they want things to today to relieve the cost-of-living... what I would do immediately is low-tax investment zones," Ms Truss replies. "We need to challenge the orthodoxy that is making things so slow to deliver. I don't just talk, I act."

 

Levelling up about 'enormous pride' in where you live
Ms Truss and Mr Sunak are asked by Chris Mason, the BBC's political editor,
"if levelling up would be as central to them as it was to Boris Johnson".

SUNAK: "unequivocal, massive yes" to his commitment to levelling up.

"I grew up in Southampton... and now I represent a rural seat in north Yorkshire and Teesside is my back door. And I've seen the amazing change I've helped to deliver in a place like that, delivering a freeport that's attracted jobs and investment to Brexit with new industries like carbon capture stories and vaccine manufacturing.

"It should mean that no matter where you grow up, you have fantastic opportunities to fulfil your potential but you also have enormous pride in the place you call home."

TRUSS: I am completely committed to levelling up
The Foreign Secretary says: "I am completely committed to levelling up It is not just a slogan for me, it is about the life I've had, I've seen what happened in Paisley, what happened in Leeds where children were let down by a combination of low expectations, low opportunities and a poor level of education standards."

Ms Truss promises to unleash private sector investment and change Treasury investment rules which "favour London" while "getting the best schools everywhere in the country and allowing those to thrive as well".

 

TRUSS and SUNAK trade blows on China

Blows traded about China in the press, Rishi Sunak says we need to realise "China is a threat to our national security, a threat to our economic security".
He cites past comments from Liz Truss about wanting a closer relationship, but says "Liz has been on a journey as well".

Ms Truss argues Mr Sunak "as recently as a month ago was pushing about closer trade relationships with China. I'm delighted that you've come round to my way of thinking. But it's been driven by the Foreign Office, the toughest stance we've taken on China.

"Frankly, what we've heard from the Treasury is a desire for closer economic relations with China... my view is we must not repeat the mistake we made with Russia on becoming strategically dependent on Russia."

Mr Sunak reminds Ms Truss of when she said we were entering "a golden age of relations" with China. The Foreign Secretary says it was "almost a decade ago".

 

'We absolutely should be cracking down' on TikTok
Are the hopefuls willing to damage their relations with Britain's number one export party, and will TikTok be cracked down on?

TRUSS: We absolutely should be cracking down on those types of companies and we should be limiting the amount of technology exports we do to authoritarian regimes. I don't think it's inevitable China will be the biggest economy in the world, in fact we've been enabling that to happen... We have to take a tougher stance.
We have to learn from the mistakes we made of Europe becoming dependent on Russian oil and gas. And freedom is a price worth paying.

SUNAK: I helped pass in Parliament a piece of legislation that gives the Government the powers to block investment in our economy from countries and companies that we think are not consistent with our values and interests.
It's happening with our universities and civic societies... as prime minister I'll take a very robust view.

 

TRUSS uses the 'Let me be clear' phase
And UK folk remember who said it

 

Ukraine support 'will continue whoever becomes prime minister'
How far would Ms Truss and Mr Sunak go on Russia? Ms Truss says she is proud of the UK's record in Ukraine, but would not be prepared for direct British involvement in the conflict: "We have done as much as we can, we put the toughest possible sanctions on Russia."

Mr Sunak says sanctions have "really hampered Putin's war effort" and as Chancellor supported Ukraine in weapons export and aid. "That will continue whoever becomes prime minister," he replies.

 

TRUSS: I was an environmentalist before it was cool
SUNAK says reducing energy efficiency, recycling - which his household is "obsessive about" - and innovation can help to solve the climate crisis.
He urges Britain to "do the amazing British thing that we always do" to "leave our kids a much better environment".

TRUSS: recalls her days as an "environmentalist before it was fashionable" in her teenage days. "I'm naturally a thrifty person... it also helps the environment."
She says Britain can use less, waste less - especially food waste - but also provide "the innovation we need" from electric vehicles to home insulation.
"But what I don't want to see is ordinary households penalised by our net zero target so I would lift the green energy levy and cut money from people's fuel bills."

 

'Those are conservative values'
TRUSS: gets a laugh by saying "I'm not sure Chris Mason has ever been to Claire's Accessories" in light of the row over Nadine Dorries's comments.
The candidates are asked by Mr Mason: Given this is what their supporters are saying, does this matter?

SUNAK says: "I've got enormous respect and admiration for Liz and all the other people who have spent time in this leadership campaign. And actually when this is all done we're all part of the same Conservative family, we're going to come together.

"I wasn't born this way. My family emigrated here 60 years ago. I worked as a waiter at the Indian restaurant down the road and I'm standing here because of the hard work, sacrifice and love of my parents and the opportunities they provided for me.
Those values of hard work and aspiration, those are conservative values."

 

It suits Truss to have deleted Twitter
TRUSS: claims since the campaign she has "deleted Twitter from my phone" but does not share Ms Dorries's criticisms of Rishi Sunak's suits.

Does Ms Truss disown Ms Dorries's words? "I'm not going to give him fashion advice and I don't think this is really the key issue in the campaign frankly.

 

On Boris:
For the first time tonight, Boris Johnson comes up.
Rishi Sunak is asked what he would say to those who see him as the man who brought the PM down.

"It wasn't an easy decision, it was a difficult decision... but it was a decision that I made on principle, and that's what you should know about me, I'm always going to act on principle. When I was told if I supported Brexit I went on and did it anyway, I did it out of conviction... I will always act on principle."

On the £4,300-per-household claim she made on Brexit, TRUSS says: "That is where I lost trust in Treasury forecasting. That is the point I'm making, those predictions of doom did not come true. I've learnt from that, if there was a referendum again I would vote to leave.

"And since the referendum took place I've delivered dozens of trade deals, I've pushed through the Northern Ireland Protocol... I'm very, very keen to take advantage of all the opportunities of Brexit."