Tory leadership - live: Truss tax cuts would not help vulnerable pensioners, Sunak says
Former chancellor Rishi Sunak said he is ‘confident’ he can find extra funds for direct support
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Rishi Sunak said tax cuts proposed by his Tory leadership rival Liz Truss will not help vulnerable pensioners who will struggle to pay for heating this winter.
At hustings in Darlington, former chancellor Mr Sunak said he could offer hundreds of pounds extra for the “most vulnerable” people to pay their energy bills – in addition to support already pledged.
In a swipe at Ms Truss’ plans, he said tax cuts are “not much alone” for people living off pensions, adding that it was “wrong” for her to “rule out direct support”.
It comes after analysts warned that energy bills could exceed £4,200 in the new year as a result of Ofgem planning to lift the price cap once again, after a move to lift it to £3,582 in October.
Mr Sunak and foreign secretary Ms Truss – who are vying to succeed Boris Johnson as PM – have faced calls to spell out how they would ease the crisis at the event attended by Tory members.
Mr Sunak said he has “no doubt” extra support will be needed to get people through the winter, and he is “confident” he can find the money from government “efficiency savings”.
Sunak wants to ‘stand up to this leftie woke culture'
To applause from the audience, Rishi Sunak said that he wants to “stand up to this leftie woke culture that seems to want to cancel our histories, our values, and our women.”
Earlier, he told the Tory members at the Darlington hustings that he stands for “patriotism, family, service, hard work, and aspiration.”
Rishi Sunak hints at more support for cash-strapped Brits
Rishi Sunak has suggested he could offer hundreds of pounds in extra support to those burdened by the rising cost-of-living.
It comes after analysts delivered a shock warning that energy bills could top £4,200 in the new year.
The former chancellor and Liz Truss are facing renewed calls to state how they would support Britons at a hustings event in Darlington taking place this evening.
Cornwall Insight forecast average bills could hit about £3,582 in October, from £1,971 today, before rising further in January.
Mr Sunak said he has “no doubt” extra support will be needed to get people through the winter, and he is “confident” he can find the money needed to ease the strain from government efficiency savings.
Tory shouts ‘bring him back’ at Boris clip at hustings
A Tory member at the hustings in Darlington was cheered after he called out “bring him back!” when Boris Johnson appeared on the screen at the start of the event.
Mr Johnson will cease being prime minister in September when either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak succeed him.
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will be going head-to-head in hustings in Darlington this evening from 7pm.
Keep tuned for updates.
Truss ‘divorced from reality’, says Sunak camp
Rishi Sunak’s campaign has attacked Liz Truss after she refused to commit to extra payments to ease the pain of soaring fuel bills.“
Liz Truss has doubled down, refusing five times to say she will provide direct support for British families and pensioners this winter.
Under her plans Liz will get £1800 of support whilst hard working families will get as little as £60,” said a Sunak campaign source.
They added: “Liz’s plan will not touch the sides for the majority of British families this winter and pensioners will get no help whatsoever. It seems she is divorced from reality.”
The Truss campaign had earlier attacked Sunak’s pledge to increase borrowing to fund more direct support on bills.
A campaign source said: “Three weeks ago he was saying more borrowing was irresponsible and inflationary. Has he changed his mind? Intellectually it’s as watertight as a sieve.”
Sunak ‘confident’ he could the money to support people with cost of living demands
Rishi Sunak has said he is “confident” he could find the money needed to support people with the rising cost of living from Government efficiency savings.
Asked about how much cash the efficiency savings could raise by ITV News, Tory leadership contestant Mr Sunak said: “Well, I need to obviously have the job and go through all the numbers in detail, but it’s very clear that for the scale of the things that we’re talking about, given what we think the bills are going to be, the money we need, I’m confident that we can find the money from across Government.”
Nadine Dorries waging ‘terrorist campaign’ against Partygate inquiry, says Tory MP on committee
Culture secretary Nadine Dorries has been accused of being part of “terrorist campaign” to discredit the inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled parliament on Partygate.
Senior Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin – who sits on the committee set to probe the PM this autumn – lashed out when asked about Ms Dorries claims of a “witch hunt”.
Asked about the PM’s allies’ repeated attacks on the inquiry, Sir Bernard told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “If anybody is unhappy with that they should write to the committee with their arguments and we will be compelled to consider to them.”
Politics writer Adam Forrest has more:
Nadine Dorries waging ‘terrorist campaign’ against Partygate inquiry, says Tory MP
Sir Bernard Jenkin lashes out at ‘publicity campaign designed to discredit the committee’
Energy price hikes a ‘second crisis’ after Covid, Tory MP says
Conservative MP and chairman of the Liaison Committee Sir Bernard Jenkin has compared the energy price increases to a “second crisis” after Covid.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme: “Liz (Truss) is completely right that tax cuts in the longer term are very important and I very much look forward to those tax cuts being implemented, but Rishi (Sunak) is also right that there will have to be further support for - particularly - the lower-income households.
“These huge energy increases, cost increases that are being imposed on us by the war in Ukraine, are going to lead to falling living standards.
“We cannot shield people from falling living standards under these circumstances, we cannot shield people from all the effects of this, but obviously we’ve got to make sure that pensioners don’t have to switch off their heating, that disabled people don’t have to switch off their heating and the lowest-income families don’t actually run out of cash and start running up overdrafts and defaulting on their debts.
“This is a very serious situation ... and these decisions are going to have to be made in the context of the economy as a whole, but this is like Covid, a second crisis. We are effectively at war in Europe and this is imposing enormous extra costs on the economy and on households. There’s no avoiding the need for us to take some action.”
Sir Bernard said he wanted to see VAT on domestic fuel abolished and a reintroduction of the £20 uplift on Universal Credit.
NHS faces winter of strikes as nurses and professionals ballot over pay
A ballot of around 100,000 NHS members of the Unite union is under way over possible strike action this winter in protest at a below-inflation pay offer.
Voting by Unite members in England and Wales began as the Royal College of Nursing announced almost half a million members will also take part in a separate strike ballot next month.
Both unions are recommending their members support industrial action, which could begin in October and throw the health service into crisis over the winter, writes Andrew Woodcock.
NHS faces winter of strikes as nurses and professionals ballot over pay
‘Kick in the teeth’: Pay award is far below inflation rate
Plans to slash 91,000 civil service jobs ‘would need cuts to major frontline services’
The prime minister’s plans to slash 91,000 civil service jobs has faced fresh criticism following a comprehensive review by Downing Street’s former chief-of-staff.
In proposals outlined in May, Boris Johnson insisted that a reduction of civil servants by 20 per cent would allow government to use the money better elsewhere, adding this could be achieved without harming major frontline services.
However, the Treasury’s confidence in the proposal has reportedly been diminished after a Whitehall review led by Steve Barclay.
Read more here:
Plan to slash 91,000 civil servants jobs ‘would need cuts to frontline services’
Proposal would also cost country more than £1bn in redundancy payments, review finds
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