Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak discussed at length a range of topics during their latest televised debate. The two Tory leadership hopefuls took part in Sky News’ The Battle For Number 10 on Thursday night, which saw them separately taking questions from party members.
Here are the key points raised during the 90-minute-long TV event.
– Ms Truss and Mr Sunak clashed over their economic policies after the Bank of England warned of a long recession. The Foreign Secretary insisted a recession is not inevitable when asked about the Bank of England’s forecast for an outright recession and 13% inflation, saying: “What the Bank of England have said today is of course extremely worrying, but it is not inevitable. We can change the outcome and we can make it more likely that the economy grows.”
She said she wanted to keep taxes low and “do all we can to grow the economy by taking advantage of our post-Brexit freedom, unleashing investment, changing things like the procurement rules and doing things differently”.
The former chancellor warned Ms Truss’s plan would make the dire economic situation worse, warning of “misery for millions” by pouring “fuel on the fire”. He said: “We in the Conservative party need to get real and fast because the lights on the economy are flashing red and the root cause is inflation."
– Ms Truss said she has "no skeletons" in her closet and Mr Sunak insisted he never benefitted financially from tax havens. Ms Truss insisted she has nothing to hide, telling the Sky News debate: “There are no skeletons in my closet."
The former chancellor was asked if he had ever benefitted financially by tax havens, to which he quickly replied “no”.
– Mr Sunak said he will not back down. He insisted he will “fight incredibly hard ’til the last day” of the leadership campaign, telling a Conservative party member in the audience that “the quick answer is no” when questioned whether there is a point at which he would step aside in the race to be leader.
– Ms Truss continued to face questions on her policy U-turn. The Foreign Secretary was told by an audience member that her abandoned £8.8 billion policy pledge to cut the public sector wage bill had been “quite offensive” and was asked to apologise.
Ms Truss repeated her claim that she had decided to drop the policy proposal because it was being misinterpreted, and stopped short of an apology.
– Ms Truss said she would not travel to Taiwan as PM. When asked about it by Sky News presenter Kay Burley, the Foreign Secretary said: “No. We have a long-standing position that the Foreign Secretary, the Ministry of Defence and the Prime Minister don’t visit Taiwan.”
– Mr Sunak dismissed Ben Wallace’s comments on Boris Johnson having to overrule him over defence money. Last week, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace accused Mr Sunak of trying to block money for defence spending in 2019, only to find himself overruled by the Prime Minister. Mr Sunak said “that’s not right” when asked about it.
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
