Truss vs Sunak news – live: Leadership frontrunner branded ‘on holiday from reality’

Rivals to face Conservative members at GB News event

(EPA/Reuters/Getty)

Michael Gove has endorsed Rishi Sunak to be the next Conservative leader, accusing Liz Truss of taking a "holiday from reality" with her tax plans.

His attack on his former Cabinet colleague came as the foreign secretary and ex-chancellor battled it out in Manchester at another Tory leadership hustings event,

Mr Gove claimed Ms Truss would put “the stock options of FTSE 100 executives” before the nation’s poorest people.

“I am deeply concerned that the framing of the leadership debate by many has been a holiday from reality. The answer to the cost of living crisis cannot be simply to reject further ‘handouts’ and cut tax,” he wrote in The Times.

Ms Truss, the leadership frontrunner, was earlier was accused of showing “her true colours” in an unearthed 2009 paper promoting vast spending cuts.

Labour said the think-tank report co-authored by Ms Truss – which called for “user charges for GPs”, the abolition of universal child benefit and the removal of the winter fuel payment – revealed that “the reality of her agenda is devastating cuts”.

Key Points

• Truss and Sunak to go head-to-head in Manchester
• Polling expert ‘would be extraordinarily surprised’ if Truss does not win race
• Truss branded ‘out of touch’ over controversial unearthed report

[19 August 2022 18:22 · Andy Gregory]

Truss branded ‘out of touch’ over unearthed report calling for removal of winter fuel payment

Tonight’s debate comes after Liz Truss was accused of showing “her true colours” in an unearthed 2009 paper she co-authored while deputy director of the Reform think tank.

The controversial report called for the removal of the winter fuel payment, abolition of universal child benefit, patients to be charged to see their GP and for doctors’ pay to be slashed by 10 per cent.

It also called for several major military procurement projects to be axed, including the Royal Navy’s planned aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales – which were described as “inappropriate defence projects”.

Ms Truss’s campaign sought to distance the leadership candidate from the paper, with a campaign spokesperson saying: “Co-authoring a document does not mean that someone supports every proposal put forward.

“Liz is focused on her bold economic plan to boost growth, cut taxes and put money back into hardworking people’s pockets.”

But Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Liz Truss’s track record shows her true colours. She is out of touch and out of step with the public.”

[19 August 2022 18:14 · Andy Gregory]

Good evening, and welcome to The Independent’s politics live blog, where we’ll be covering the latest updates on tonight’s Tory leadership hustings in Manchester.