Summary of key points from Tory leadership hustings in Darlington
Here are the main points from the Tory leadership hustings in Darlington.
Sunak said the Conservative party would be “absolutely hammered” at the next election if it did not offer targeted help to the people who would struggle most paying their energy bills this winter. The electorate would not forgive the party if instead if focused on tax cuts that would benefit the wealthy, he said, in a reference to Liz Truss’s preferred approach. (See 8.05pm.)
Sunak signalled that the energy support package he was planning for the autumn would not be as extensive as the £15bn one he announced in May – but that it would be exclusively focused on those most in need. Asked if he was planning to spend another £15bn, he replied;
I don’t think that will be necessary because what we are talking about now ... is the extra increase on top of what we thought. And we already thought bills were going to go up to £3,000 when we announced that support.
I want to go further than I did previously because the situation is worse. It’s right that we target that on the people who most need our help.
The only way to help them is with direct support because tax cuts alone are not much good if you’re a pensioner who is not earning any extra money. They are not much good if you are working hard on the national living wage, because Liz’s tax cut is worth about a quid a week for that person, it’s worth zero for a pensioner. That’s not right.
Although the May package was directed mostly at lower-income households, there was a universal element, because all households were offered £400. Asked if he would do this again, Sunak replied:
No, because I think what we need to do is target our support for the most vulnerable.
Truss restated her preference for general tax cuts over targeted support for those most in need through benefit-type payments. She said:
There’s a fixed pie, we have to share out the pie and we have to give out the money and hand out. My view is that we can grow the pie, and having lower taxes actually helps us generate more income into the economy so there is more money to go around.
What I fundamentally don’t agree with is putting up taxes and then also giving out benefits. I think that is the wrong approach.
She also described relying on cash payments as the main means of helping people with the cost of living as “Gordon Brown economics”.
Truss said that, if given the chance, she would vote to end the privileges committee inquiry into whether Boris Johnson lied to MPs about Partygagte. But she also said there was not a vote, and the inquiry was going ahead. (See 8.46pm.) However, as PM she would be able to table a vote to end the inquiry (which was set up at the request of the Commons as a whole, following a vote of all MPs) if she wanted. Gavin Barwell, the Tory peer and former chief of staff to Theresa May, said if Truss did try to end the inquiry, she would be making a terrible mistake.
If she goes ahead with this (and particularly if she tries to whip Conservative MPs to do the same) it will define her premiership with a significant chunk of the electorate - and not in a good way. Have we learnt nothing from the Paterson affair? https://t.co/dp3acRRlDq
— Gavin Barwell (@GavinBarwell) August 9, 2022
Truss refused to say that Johnson was to blame for his own downfall – while Sunak said it was his own fault. (See 8.47pm.)
Truss and Sunak both rejected suggestions from the CBI and Gordon Brown that they should sit down with Johnson now to agree a joint plan for dealing with rising energy bills. According to Truss, because this was a matter for the current chancellor, such an initiative would be “constitutionally deeply undesirable”. Sunak said the idea would not work because he and Truss did not agree on what should be done.
Truss was overheard at the end of the evening apologising to the host, TalkTV’s Tom Newton Dunn, for criticising the media during the Q&A – in a way that suggested she might not have meant what she had said. (See 9.13pm.)
Sunak suggested that if he became PM he would move some Downing Street staff to the new Treasury campus in Darlington. He said:
I put the Treasury in Darlington because I wanted to send a loud message to Whitehall that there is more to the North than Manchester. And I tell you this ... if this works out, it won’t just be called the Treasury Campus in Darlington, it will be the Downing Street Campus in Darlington.
Updated
Here’s the clip of the Truss/Newton Dunn exchange. (See 9.13pm.)
Interesting exchange at the end. Truss apologises for being "mean about the media". Newton Dunn tells her "It's cheap. And you know it." pic.twitter.com/MMKIDvJZ3E
— Adam Schwarz (@AdamJSchwarz) August 9, 2022
