PM Sunak would be a new Gordon Brown, Truss says of rival
Liz Truss on Monday compared Rishi Sunak to Gordon Brown as she said her rival’s refusal to cut tax would drive Britain into recession.
In a head-to-head debate dominated by economic issues, the Foreign Secretary claimed Sunak’s warnings that her plan would fuel inflation and send interest rates soaring were “scaremongering” and “Project Fear.”
But Sunak, the former chancellor, repeatedly went on the attack as he declared Truss’s promise to borrow to fund tax cuts was neither “moral” nor “conservative,” saying it would “tip millions of people into misery.”
A snap poll by Opinium found Truss was judged by Tory voters to have performed better in the debate, while Sunak won narrowly with all voters.
The debate saw the most heated attacks so far in the race to take over from Boris Johnson, which will be decided by Conservative Party members by Sept. 5.
Throughout the opening section of the hour-long BBC debate, Sunak interrupted Truss, with allies of the foreign secretary accusing him of “aggressive mansplaining” and “shouty behaviour” on Monday.
Truss warned that Sunak’s record in the Treasury of raising the tax burden to its highest point in 70 years meant the economy was heading for recession. She likened his refusal to offer new tax cuts due to the threat of inflation to the approach taken by Brown, the former prime minister and chancellor.
“This is the same line that we heard from Gordon Brown,” she said. At another point she warned: “You can’t put up taxes and get growth.”
Sunak repeatedly pinned Truss down on her promise to borrow more to fund her tax cuts, which will cost more than 30 billion pounds ($46.5 billion).
“That is the country’s credit card and it’s our children and grandchildren, everyone here’s kids will pick up the tab for that. There’s nothing conservative about it,” Sunak said.
He repeatedly challenged Truss to disassociate herself from Patrick Minford, an economist she has cited who said under her plans interest rates may rise as high as seven per cent.
One of the most eye-catching exchanges came after Sunak issued a warning that Truss’s economic plan would see mortgage rates soar. Truss said: “This is scaremongering, this is Project Fear.” The phrase “Project Fear” refers to the economic warnings over the consequence of voting for Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum.
Sunak shot back: “I remember the referendum campaign and there was only one of us on the side of Project Fear and Remain and it was you, not me.”
That referenced Truss’s decision to vote to remain in the EU at the 2016 referendum, unlike Sunak who voted for Brexit. Truss added: “Maybe I’ve learnt from that.”
Before the debate, Truss was the clear front-runner in the campaign. She has consistently led in opinion polls of Tory members.
A fierce battle to spin how the debate went erupted after the broadcast. A spokesman for the Truss campaign accused Sunak of being “not fit for office,” claiming he had shown “aggressive mansplaining and shouty private school behaviour.”
Richard Holden, a Tory MP supporting Sunak, said the audience had preferred the former chancellor and given him three rounds of applause during the debate.
On Tuesday, Sunak and Truss will attempt to put the spotlight back on policy. Sunak said that he wants every schools’ sports provision to be rated in assessments by the inspector Ofsted, in the hope of boosting children’s exercise.
Truss has vowed to raise the proportion of a trade union’s members who must approve a strike for it to happen from 40 per cent to 50 per cent, making it harder to take industrial action.