Now Rishi accused of peddling Project Fear

Bad-tempered TV debate sees Truss hit back over tax claim

LiZ Truss accused Rishi Sunak of peddling ‘Project Fear’ scare stories as they trashed each other’s economic plans in an ill-tempered television debate last night.

The former chancellor warned that Miss Truss’s proposals to slash taxes would lead to a hike in mortgage rates that would ‘tip millions into misery’.

Arguing there is ‘ nothing Conservative’ about her approach, Mr Sunak said it would give the party ‘absolutely no chance’ of winning the next election.

But Miss Truss hit back, saying that failing to reverse the tax rises Mr Sunak introduced during his time at the Treasury would push Britain into recession, triggering job losses.

in a furious exchange, the Foreign Secretary declared: ‘This is scaremongering, this is Project Fear.’

Seeking to take advantage of her support for Remain ahead of the 2016 vote, Mr Sunak replied: ‘i remember the referendum campaign and there was one person who was on the side of Project Fear – it was you, not me.’

But Miss Truss immediately fired back: ‘Maybe i’ve learned from that.’

The first head-to-head showdown, which was shown on BBC One, saw the pair trade blows on the economy, China and their very different backgrounds as children.

As tensions rose, Mr Sunak repeatedly interrupted and spoke over Miss Truss. One of her supporters last night accused him of acting as a ‘ rude, dismissive and entitled bully’ in the hour-long debate.

Another ally of Miss Truss said: ‘ Rishi Sunak has tonight proven he is not fit for office. His aggressive mansplaining and shouty private school behaviour is desperate, unbecoming and is a gift to Labour.’

Culture Secretary nadine Dorries tweeted: ‘Here he goes again. interrupting, talking Liz down. it’s a terrible look. He’s irritable, aggressive, bad-tempered. He’s losing it.’

The only thing the candidates agreed on was that neither would give Boris Johnson a Cabinet job if they become PM.

ECONOMY

The debate began with two Conservative voters in the Stoke-on-Trent audience telling how the soaring cost of living was affecting them.

The first, a police officer called giles, said his home energy bills had tripled in the past six months, while Charlotte, a working single mother, said she was ‘struggling’. The two candidates were asked if they would be able to offer people more help with their bills, should they become prime minister in September.

Mr Sunak addressed the voters by name and sympathised with them, saying, ‘i know it’s difficult.’ He made repeated references to the support he provided as chancellor earlier this year, which he said totalled £1,200 for the most vulnerable.

But he was reluctant to make immediate promises, pointing out that energy bills were ‘ very volatile’. By contrast, Miss Truss said

she would immediately reverse the recent national insurance increase – pointing out the Conservative manifesto had promised not to raise it – and also put a ‘temporary moratorium’ on green levies on energy bills.

After those two initial statements, the debate quickly turned bad-tempered, with Mr Sunak interrupting his rival several times when he disagreed with her. He said it was not Conservative and even not moral for the country to not pay back the money spent on Covid support, likening it to

putting the bill on a credit card and ‘passing the tab to our children and grandchildren’.

Miss Truss said her plans would see the debt start to be repaid in just three years, insisting: ‘i’m not putting it on the never-never.’

She said no other major economy was raising taxes at the moment because it risked triggering a recession such as the one the UK experienced when she was young. Mr Sunak jumped in again to say that inflation was the biggest problem back in the 1980s and 1990s. He then made several

attempts to harangue Miss Truss over the views of an economist who supports her, Patrick Minford, who believes interest rates should increase to 7 per cent. At one stage, presenter Sophie Raworth had to tell him: ‘Rishi Sunak, please let Liz Truss answer.’

As he continued to talk about mortgage rates, Miss Truss calmly dismissed him by saying: ‘i’m sorry, this is scaremongering, this is Project Fear.’

in one line that may cut through with voters, Mr Sunak likened her tax cuts to a ‘sugar rush’ that

would be followed by a ‘crash’ of higher prices.

But Miss Truss would not be deterred and took aim not only at his future plans but his past record as chancellor. ‘Rishi, you’ve just put in the highest tax rate for 70s years. How on earth can you claim that that’s going to drive economic growth? Where have the growth policies been for the past two and a half years to drive investment into our towns and cities?’

LEVELLING UP

The candidates were questioned