Sunak, Truss take part in UK leadership debate in Birmingham

LONDON

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and current Foreign Secretary Liz Truss took part in a leadership campaign event Tuesday in Birmingham, England.

The pair took turns answering questions in front of an audience comprised of party members.

Truss said she would legislate for single sex spaces, including domestic violence shelters, as part of her desire to push back against the “identity politics of the left.”

She pledged to put more police on the streets and increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030.

On crime specifically, she said: “There is a serious problem in this country with gun crime, there’s a serious problem with gangs, there’s a serious problem with knife crime, and I’m absolutely determined we get a grip on that.”

She also said schools should be open for longer and youth clubs made available so young people have “alternative places to be” and so be less likely to “fall prey to gangs or go off in the wrong direction.”

She doubled down on her main campaign pledge to cut taxes because she did not believe in “taking money in taxes and giving it back in benefits,” a policy she associated with the opposition center-left Labour Party. Her tax plan would help with the cost-of-living crisis, she said.

“This whole language of ‘unfunded’ tax cuts implies the static model, the so-called abacus economics that the Treasury orthodoxy has promoted for years, but it hasn’t worked in our economy because what we have ended up with is high tax, high spending and low growth. That is not a sustainable model for Britain’s future,” Truss said.

Truss also said she would “unleash” the opportunities of Brexit and expand grammar schools, that is academically selective schools.

For his part, Sunak said he would cut the value-added tax (VAT) on energy bills to help deal with the cost-living-crisis.

He praised Margaret Thatcher as the “greatest post-war prime minister” and said she is the standard he holds himself to.

On taxes, Sunak said: “I think unfunded tax cuts are wrong, and do you know what? Her (Thatcher’s) chancellor Nigel Lawson agrees with me, the head of her policy unit agrees with me, Norman Lamont agrees with me.

“All of these people who understood Margaret Thatcher’s economics are supporting my economic plan because it is the right one for our country and it is a Conservative approach to managing the economy.”

On crime, Sunak said he would increase stop and search measures, adding: “What is clear is there are things that hold us back from getting to grips with our crime in this country.”

“I won’t let political correctness get in the way of keeping us safe,” he said.

Sunak repeated his pledge to fine those who miss hospital appointments in a bid to encourage people to cancel their appointments early as part of his plan to alleviate pressure on the country’s embattled National Health Service.

On energy security, he said he would create “an innovative economy to create small modular reactors to power homes in a cleaner, cheaper way.”

Sunak also spoke on foreign policy, saying: “China represents the biggest threat to the UK’s economic and national security,” but the UK’s policy on Taiwan will remain intact, as the “best way to prevent aggression against Taiwan from China is by showing Russia that they will not be successful in Ukraine.”

Closer to home, on the state of the UK, he said he would push on with a controversial bill that would override parts of the Northern Ireland protocol and in Scotland highlight the benefits of the union. He said we would combat the “very seductive” idea of nationalism by “speaking to people’s hearts as prime minister.”

Members of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party are currently voting to decide on their next leader, who will also become the next prime minister.

Truss is leading in internal Conservative Party membership polls by some margin, though Sunak led in the first stage of the contest with Conservative Party lawmakers.

The new leader of the Conservative Party, and in turn prime minister, will be announced on Sept. 5.