The five remaining Conservative candidates to become the UK’s next prime minister clashed on Friday night over tax and honesty in politics in their first TV debate, as they fight to make an eventual two-person run-off.
The 90-minute debate — the first chance in the days-old contest for both the frontrunners and lesser-known contenders to pitch their credentials to a national television audience — saw relatively few direct confrontations between them.
However, when they did erupt, it came largely over taxation, with former British chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak, one of the frontrunners, forced to defend plans to keep interest rates at some of the highest levels in decades.
Photo: AP
Sunak, who has topped the first two rounds of voting by Conservative lawmakers this week as the race narrows toward a final pair next week, is up against several contenders vowing to cut various taxes immediately.
“Borrowing your way out of inflation isn’t a plan, it’s a fairy tale,” Sunak told British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Liz Truss, as she touted her tax-slashing plans in the face of a spiraling cost-of-living crisis.
Truss — battling to unite the ruling party’s right wing behind her so-far lagging campaign after twice finishing third in votes — has positioned herself as a low-tax free-marketeer.
She has backing from prominent loyalists of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, despite wanting to reverse his government’s recent tax rise earmarked for healthcare.
“You cannot tax your way to growth,” Truss said. “I think it is wrong to put taxes up.”
Johnson last week announced his resignation as Conservative Party leader after a Cabinet insurrection led partly by Sunak, following months of controversies.
The five Conservative lawmakers bidding to succeed him initially faced hostile questions, from an invited audience of voters and a single political anchor, over trust and integrity.
That allowed long-shot candidates Tom Tugendhat, a prominent backbencher, and former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, to pitch themselves as untainted and ready to provide a fresh start.
A snap poll of 1,159 viewing voters by Opinium found 36 percent thought the former army officer performed best, followed by one-quarter citing Sunak.
Just 6 percent said Truss, while Penny Mordaunt and Badenoch fared slightly better on 12 percent each.
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