A summary of today's developments
- During the latest Conservative hustings in Eastbourne, Liz Truss was interrupted on two occasions by protesters highlighting climate change and the cost of living crisis. Truss told the audience: “I take it as a compliment that I’m so popular with Extinction Rebellion.” The activists from the Green New Deal Rising group were escorted out of the venue by security staff.
- Nusrat Ghani announced she is supporting Liz Truss at the hustings. The MP for Wealden praised Truss’s “bold and conservative” plan, insisting she will “defend the unity of our nation and protect the peace in Northern Ireland”.
- Rishi Sunak defended his comments after a video, shared with The New Statesman magazine, shows him telling grassroots Tories in Kent that he had been working to divert funding from “deprived urban areas” towards prosperous towns. Foreign Office minister Zac Goldsmith said the video was “one of the weirdest - and dumbest - things I’ve ever heard from a politician”. The former chancellor said today that it is not solely “big urban areas that require that extra investment”. 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.”
- Lisa Nandy, the shadow secretary of state for levelling up, has written to Greg Clark, the levelling up secretary and Tunbridge Wells MP, about Rishi Sunak’s “scandalous” admission that he “funnelled public money away from deprived areas and gave it to affluent Tory shires”.
- The UK business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, admitted it will be more than a month before ministers can introduce any measures to tackle the rising cost of living.
- Tony Danker, the CBI director general, said he fears a power vacuum amid the Tory leadership contest, warning that the economic crisis “cannot wait until 5 September for action”.
And that brings tonight’s hustings in Eastbourne to a close.
