Sunak warns Truss an election risk as UK PM race enters new phase
Saturday, 23 July 2022
LONDON, July 22 (AFP): Rishi Sunak warned Conservatives Thursday that choosing leadership rival Liz Truss to be UK prime minister risks losing the next election to the Labour party, as he bids to overhaul her huge polling lead among Tories.
Former finance minister Sunak topped five ballots of Tory MPs over the last eight days to make a run-off against foreign secretary Truss, but now faces long odds to win the contest decided by party members.
Several recent surveys of members, including a new YouGov poll, showed nearly two-thirds preferring Truss, with around 40 percent saying Sunak "cannot be trusted" after his resignation helped topple outgoing leader Boris Johnson.
Also facing stinging criticism over his pledge to balance the books before cutting taxes, Sunak tried to go on the offensive over Truss' broader electability as the pair kick off six weeks of campaigning.
"If you look at all the polling evidence that we have... it's pretty clear that I am the person that is best placed to defeat Keir Starmer in the next election," he told LBC radio.
"That's what our members will need to consider," Sunak added, vowing to deliver victory in the next general election due by the end of 2024.
Earlier Thursday, Truss again assailed Sunak's tax policies, as the issue continues to dominate the weeks-old contest.
He has overseen various tax hikes as Britain battles to fix public finances after the coronavirus pandemic while being buffeted spiralling inflation.
She wrote in the Daily Mail that Britain had been "going in the wrong direction on tax, with the tax burden at its highest in 70 years", and promised to reverse recent rises.
Truss has also vowed to suspend green levies on energy bills-despite climate change being widely acknowledged to have led to a record-breaking deadly heatwave this week.
She defended her tax-slashing plans-set to cost at least o30 billion ($36 billion) a year-as "affordable".
That drew derision from Sunak, who argues they will worsen 40-year-high inflation.