Tory leadership - live: Sunak warns ‘we’ll lose election if inflation rampant’ as Truss heckled
Former chancellor says he’s ‘particularly worried’ about policies that worsen crisis after protesters interrupt foreign secretary
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Rishi Sunak has told Tory members the party will lose the 2024 general election if inflation is not brought under control – in a veiled warning of the risks of electing as leader Liz Truss, who wants to slash taxes immediately.
At a leadership hustings in Eastbourne, the former chancellor said he was “particularly worried about policies that risk making it worse and last longer”.
As the event began, Ms Truss was heckled before resuming her speech to blame “infiltrators” and attack “unfair protests” that “interrupt our democracy”.
Earlier, Mr Sunak was filmed boasting about diverting funding away from “deprived urban areas” towards more prosperous areas that “deserve” it.
Labour’s Lisa Nandy urged the government to investigate the “deeply concerning” remarks made to grassroots Tories in Kent last month – uncovered in footage obtained by the New Statesman .
He told supporters: “I managed to start changing the funding formulas, to make sure areas like this are getting the funding they deserve because we inherited a bunch of formulas from Labour that shoved all the funding into deprived urban areas and that needed to be undone.”
Changing funding formulas ‘entirely sensible’, says Sunak
It is not just “big urban areas that require that extra investment”, Rishi Sunak has said.
The ex-chancellor sought to defuse a backlash over comments made to Tory supporters, as he told Sky News: “It’s right that those funding formulas are accurate, that they actually look at the need in different areas, measure that properly and reflect how things have changed from the past.
“And I think that’s an entirely sensible thing to be doing, because it’s not just big urban areas that require that extra investment. It’s also people in rural communities, it’s also people in towns and that’s what we’ve done, both as a Government in the past, what I want to do as prime minister in the future.
“Level up across the country so that no matter where people live, they feel incredible opportunities and pride in the place that they call home.”
There has been laughter at the outset of the Tory hustings, after Peter Booth, the chair of the Conservative National Convention accidentally suggested the leadership hustings would continue until 31 October – rather than 31 August.
“Thankfully it’s not going on that long,” he added.
1922 Committee vice-chair backs Truss
Nusrat Ghani, the vice-chair of the 1922 Committee is onstage.
While she had to be neutral during the first part of the election due to her role on the backbench committee, Ms Ghani said she is now supporting “our brilliant foreign secretary”, Liz Truss.
Only the Tory Party could have put together such stellar candidates, she added.
Ms Truss’s plan for the country “is bold, just like her”, Ms Ghani said, adding that the foreign secretary “will defend the unity of our nation and protect the peace in Northern Ireland”.
Truss opens with another attack on school system in Leeds
Liz Truss is now onstage, and was quickly told to “speak into the mic” – with the foreign secretary battling a brief flash of feedback before launching into a pitch about having not been brought up in a “traditional Conservative household”.
The foreign secretary returned to a now very familiar refrain that she saw children at her school let down by Leeds city council, who she claimed were more interested in political correctness than making sure students got English and Maths right.
“That’s what made me go into politics. Because I hated to see that waste of talent and I want our country to be successful,” Ms Truss said, adding her “aspiration nation” slogan for good measure.
Truss interrupted by angry ‘infiltrators'
Continuing her opening remarks, Liz Truss revisited her plan to reverse the planned hike to National Insurace, and to place a moratorium on the green levy.
As a Conservative, the foreign secretary said she wanted to be on the side of people who work hard and do the right thing.
But the foreign secretary was interrupted by angry shouts from a member of the audience, who appeared to be met with shouts of “out, out, out” in response to their remarks.
“I think we have some infiltrators and I will wait until they are evicted,” Ms Truss said.
Continuing with her speech, the foreign secretary referenced Extinction Rebellion as she said that she would “never let our democracy be interrupted by unfair protests”.
Tory voters in 2019 didn’t want Labour policies, Truss says
The people that voted Conservative in 2019 didn’t do so because they wanted Labour policies – they did so because they share our values, Liz Truss has insisted.
“Whether that’s about enterprise, whether it’s about hard work, whether it’s about supporting their family ... personal responsibility. That’s why those people voted Conservative. And those are the people and values we need to stand up for,” the foreign secretary said.
“But we also need to deliver. Because we made huge promises in 2019 about how we were going to unleash opportunity across the country, and I’m somebody who can deliver that.”
Protesters shout ‘shame on you’ and ‘green new deal’ at Truss
Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more details on the interruption during Liz Truss’s opening remarks.
Two female environmental protesters were removed from the event in Eastbourne after shouting “shame on you” and “green new deal” at the would-be prime minister.
A livestream of the hustings on the Conservative Party website was briefly halted as the protesters were taken out of the hall.
Truss blames ‘infiltrators’ as she is heckled at Conservative hustings
Protesters shouted ‘shame on you’ and ‘green new deal’
Raab praises Sunak’s ‘Conservative values'
Dominic Raab has appeared onstage to back Rishi Sunak, adding to what appears to be a heavy focus on which candidate best encapsulates “Conservative values” at the outset of tonights’ hustings.
The justice secretary says that when he first met Mr Sunak in 2015, the now former chancellor was “imbued with the work ethic, the business experience and family values instilled in him by his parents, in particular when he worked in his mum’s pharmacy”.
Mr Sunak’s values “are our values, they’re Conservative values”.
Mr Raab then referred to Mr Sunak’s support for Brexit, and plans for freeports, praising him for his “actions, not words”.
Referring to support put together by Mr Sunak during the pandemic, which he said saved 18,000 jobs and benefitted thousands of businesses in Eastbourne alone, adding: “When you needed him, Rishi was there for you.”
Mr Sunak is the candidate with the “credible” plan in the face of the inflationary crisis, Mr Raab claimed, attacking Ms Truss’s unfunded tax cuts which will burden future generations with debt.
Sunak revisits past ground in buoyant opening remarks
Rishi Sunak is now onstage, opening with a self-deprecating joke about having “finally found someone my own size” to take a photo with when asked to take a selfie with a supporter’s child during the leadership campaign.
Like Ms Truss, the ex-chancellor also opens by discussing his upbringing, saying: “The bonds of family are far greater than anything any government could ever hope to replicate and we must never, ever forget that.”
He continued that his story “is an entirely Conservative story and that’s why I want to be your next prime minister – to put those Conservative values into action, to build a better Britain”, adding: “Just as our country allowed my family to provide amazing opportunities for me, as prime minister I want to do the same for everyone, your children and grandchildren, to make sure they have the same.”
Mr Sunak repeated a refrain from earlier hustings events this week that there are three things that must be done: restore trust, rebuild the economy, and reunite our country.
He then moved on to another familiar phrase, that “inflation is the enemy that makes everyone poorer” – adding that he will not pursue policies that risk making the situation far worse and far longer, attacking Ms Truss’s plans to borrow tens of billions of pounds which future generations would pay for.
This is “certainly not Conservative”, Mr Sunak added, then throwing in a claim for good measure – heavily repeated during hustings this weeks in an attempt to claw back Tory support from Ms Truss – that he wants to be “radical”, making a reference to his support for Brexit.
Tories must ‘make British political history’ at next election, Sunak says
When it comes to reuniting our country, in just a couple of years the Conservatives “must do something very special” and “make British political history” by winning a fifth election in a row, Rishi Sunak has said.
“That has never been done before but I am confident that working together we can do it,” the ex-chancellor added, warning that the party “must appeal to swing voters everywhere”.
“I passionately believe and all the evidence supports it that I am the candidate that offers our party the best opportunity of winning that election and making sure that Keir Starmer never walks through the doors of 10 Downing Street,” he added.
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