AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 132.66 Increased By ▲ 3.13 (2.42%)
BOP 6.89 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (3.14%)
CNERGY 4.57 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-1.3%)
DCL 8.92 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.22%)
DFML 42.75 Increased By ▲ 1.06 (2.54%)
DGKC 84.00 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (0.27%)
FCCL 32.90 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.4%)
FFBL 77.06 Increased By ▲ 1.59 (2.11%)
FFL 12.20 Increased By ▲ 0.73 (6.36%)
HUBC 110.01 Decreased By ▼ -0.54 (-0.49%)
HUMNL 14.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-1.1%)
KEL 5.53 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.6%)
KOSM 8.32 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.95%)
MLCF 39.67 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-0.3%)
NBP 65.50 Increased By ▲ 5.21 (8.64%)
OGDC 198.74 Decreased By ▼ -0.92 (-0.46%)
PAEL 26.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.65 (-2.44%)
PIBTL 7.62 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.52%)
PPL 159.00 Increased By ▲ 1.08 (0.68%)
PRL 26.24 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-1.83%)
PTC 18.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.6%)
SEARL 82.24 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-0.24%)
TELE 8.12 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-2.29%)
TOMCL 34.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.32%)
TPLP 8.98 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.88%)
TREET 16.88 Decreased By ▼ -0.59 (-3.38%)
TRG 59.49 Decreased By ▼ -1.83 (-2.98%)
UNITY 27.52 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.33%)
WTL 1.40 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (1.45%)
BR100 10,614 Increased By 206.9 (1.99%)
BR30 31,874 Increased By 160.5 (0.51%)
KSE100 98,972 Increased By 1644 (1.69%)
KSE30 30,784 Increased By 591.7 (1.96%)

LONDON: Liz Truss, the favourite to become Britain’s next prime minister, on Thursday criticised rival Rishi Sunak over his tax policies while finance minister as the pair kicked off six weeks of campaigning.

The foreign minister wrote in the Daily Mail that “we have been going in the wrong direction on tax, with the tax burden at its highest in 70 years”.

She promised to reverse recent rises and suspend green levies on energy bills.

Sunak oversaw the tax hikes as the UK battles to fix public finances after the coronavirus pandemic and amid spiralling inflation, and has accused those promising cuts of “fantasy economics”.

The pair reached the final run-off to try to persuade some 200,000 party members after the last round of voting among Conservative MPs on Wednesday.

The final result is due on September 5.

Sunak launched his bid to woo grassroots members by saying he was the only candidate capable of winning a general election, due within the next 18 months.

“We’ve got a really positive message to take out to all our members now – crucially, who is the best person to beat Keir Starmer and the Labour Party at the next election?” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

Final two candidates for UK PM to be decided

“I believe I’m the only candidate who can do that.”

But he faces an uphill struggle, with polling suggesting that party members support the more right-wing Truss.

The fight has already turned personal during televised debates, but Sunak seemingly called for a truce on Thursday, writing that “I like and respect” Truss.

The pair will lobby members face-to-face for the first time on Thursday, before a dozen hustings across the country over the next few weeks.

‘I was wrong’

Truss’s message to the members is that she is a politician of conviction who will “bulldoze” through institutions that stand in the way of reform.

But she was forced to defend a record of ideological and policy U-turns, including her previous support for the Liberal Democrats and opposition to Brexit, which she now supports.

“I was wrong and I’m prepared to admit I was wrong,” on Brexit, she told BBC Radio 4 on Thursday.

“I have developed my political views and ideas. I think the idea that somebody should have the same views, age 17 as age 46 is completely ludicrous.”

Sunak’s resignation earlier this month helped to topple Prime Minister Boris Johnson after months of scandal including “Partygate”.

Downing Street is reportedly running an “anyone but Rishi” campaign.

At his last Prime Minister’s Questions session in parliament on Wednesday, Johnson hinted support for Truss’s Thatcherite platform.

He urged his successor to “cut taxes and deregulate where you can to make this the greatest place to live and invest”.

The BBC and Sky News both plan to host live TV debates between the pair, the first on Monday, with other potential duels possible before party members’ postal voting ends September 2.

But his popularity with the grassroots has faded since questions were raised over his family’s tax arrangements, and as inflation has sky-rocketed to a new 40-year high of 9.4 percent in June.

Comments

Comments are closed.