Penultimate hustings held in the East as Tory leadership contest wraps up

The pair vying to be the next Prime Minister were in Norwich last night

Author: Abi SimpsonPublished 26th Aug 2022
Last updated 26th Aug 2022

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have been in Norwich for the penultimate hustings in the race to become the next Conservative leader and Prime Minister.

The pair were quizzed in front of an audience at the Holiday Inn in the city. You can see below just some of the topics discussed at the event last night.

Rishi Sunak kicked off the penultimate Tory leadership hustings by vowing to tackle “lefty woke culture” and make responsible fiscal choices.

The former chancellor was applauded by the audience in Norwich after saying he wants to “take on this lefty woke culture that seems to want to cancel our history, our values and our women”.

Energy Crisis

Both candidates vowed to do more to tackle the energy crisis facing millions of people in the country.

South West Norfolk MP Liz Truss says her plan to cut national insurance, temporarily suspend green levy's and offer targeted support will help those struggling.

While former Chancellor Rishi Sunak says his 'cost of living framework' will raise funds to tackle the causes of the issue and support the most vulnerable.

Inflation

In a sideswipe at his rival’s fiscal plans, Mr Sunak promised not to “pursue policies that risk making inflation far worse and last far longer, especially if those policies amount to borrowing £50 billion and putting that on the country’s credit card”.

He added: “Of course I’m going to cut your taxes, but I’m going to do that responsibly by being tough on public spending and by growing our economy.”

Liz Truss said she disagrees with analysis suggesting tax cuts will lead to inflation.

Speaking at the penultimate leadership hustings in Norwich, she said: “I don’t agree with this analysis that tax cuts deliver inflation, I think it’s wrong.

“The reason that we have inflation is we have a supply shock caused by Covid, caused by the global energy crisis.

“And what I am proposing to do in some cases (is) not raising taxes, it’s just keeping taxes low.

“So I can’t for the life of me see why raising corporation tax is going to create inflation, I mean, or going to stop inflation. What it’s going to do is stop economic growth and put this country into a recession.

“And what we need to do is we need to be growing our economy and growing the supply of goods and services, which will help deal with the issue of inflation. So I just don’t think that analysis is right at all.”

Brexit

Rishi Sunak told Tory party members in Norwich he wants to “restore trust” in rural communities.

The former chancellor also said he wants to get on with “cutting EU red tape”.

He said: “I want to restore trust in our rural communities like mine at home in North Yorkshire and yours here in East Anglia, and that means increasing the supply of British food, protecting agricultural land and unequivocally backing British farmers.”

He added: “As someone who was proud to support Brexit, we need to make sure that we capitalise on it, and that means finally getting on with cutting EU red tape.

“That’s why I came up with a radical new Brexit policy of free ports to attract jobs and investment to our country and put one right here in the East of England.”

Liz Truss has said the “jury’s out” on whether President Emmanuel Macron is “friend or foe” to the UK.

The Foreign Secretary added that if she was prime minister she would judge him on “deeds not words”.

She was asked whether the French president was “friend or foe”.

“The jury’s out,” she responded to loud applause.

“But if I become prime minister I would judge him on deeds not words.”

Who do you want to be Prime Minister?

Rishi Sunak said he would rather Liz Truss be prime minister than Boris Johnson, as he called for the country to “move forward”.

Asked at the Norwich leadership hustings who would make a better PM, if not him, Mr Sunak said: “Oh gosh, I mean, Liz Truss, we’re here in her home town.

“And regardless of that, or home area, look, we’ve got to move forward as a party. Lots of you here, I’m sure (are) upset with me for resigning, wish Boris was here, that is not going to help us move forward.

“We have got to move forward as a party and when this is over we’re all on the same team, we’re all in the same family. We’ve got to focus on beating Keir Starmer, and we’re not going to do that if we’re looking backwards. We’ve got to look forwards.”

Liz Truss said Boris Johnson would be a better Prime Minister than Rishi Sunak after her leadership rival said he would prefer to see her in No 10 than the outgoing PM.

Asked the same question she quickly answered: “Boris Johnson.”

The response was met with loud applause and cheers.

“Interesting, same questions, some very different answers there,” host Julia Hartley-Brewer said.

Environment

Rishi Sunak said he wants the help of “researchers” and “scientists” to reach net zero by using technology and innovation.

He was accused by a young Tory member of having “not really hugely touched” on the issue of the environment.

The member said: “It is a crisis for the younger generation. You’ve not really hugely touched on it – you’ve mentioned about the sea, having wind power there, but what are you going to do?

“Are you going to hit big businesses? Because obviously the small people are doing their bit but there’s only so much we can do.”

The former chancellor replied: “We’ve got to use innovation and technology to solve these problems.

“British researchers, scientists, companies are going to help us solve this problem, and that’s why we need to build the innovation economy I’ve been talking about.”

Liz Truss said she would rather have more “homegrown nuclear expertise”, but if it is a choice between relying on France or China, she would pick France.

She said: “I’m very clear that we need to boost our nuclear industry including Sizewell, including the small modular reactors that are produced in Derbyshire.

“And frankly, I would rather that we do have more homegrown nuclear expertise, and regrettably we lost that because we failed to do these things 20 years ago, or 30 years ago.

“But if it’s a choice between relying on France and relying on China, I would take France.”

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