Liz Truss has said she rejects the “Gordon Brown economy” of helping people directly with bills, as her rival Rishi Sunak warned the British people “will not forgive us” if vulnerable households do not receive extra help this winter.
In recent calls from the Conservatives, the former chancellor said he would not be prepared to spend similar sums to the help offered earlier this year, and that such support should be more targeted. He said: “I don’t think it’s necessary because what we’re talking about now … is the additional increase than we thought.
“It’s only right that we target the people who need our help the most.”
He also admitted that despite his 5p cut in the fuel service, people were “not feeling it at the pumps” and said more help would be needed for the most vulnerable.
Speaking at the Darlington hustings, which were dominated by questions about rising energy bills, Mr Truss said he did not believe in using more tax to increase government help. “The first thing we should do as Conservatives is help people have more money. What I can’t stand is taking tax money out of people and then handing it back to them in handouts. That to me is the economy of Gordon Brown”.
Truss said the rise in National Insurance was his biggest regret in government. “I am very sorry that we have gone ahead with the increase in national insurance. It was against the manifesto promise and I spoke out against it at the time.”
The foreign secretary again refused to say whether she would give more help directly with energy bills, but tempered that by saying she would not commit to the details of the next budget so soon. “There is [an idea that there’s a] fixed pie, we have to share the pie and we have to share the money and share.
“My view is that we can grow the pie, and having lower taxes helps us generate more revenue in the economy, so there’s more money to go around.”
Sunak’s campaign for the leadership, which has trailed Truss in the polls in recent weeks, was dealt a further blow last night when Chris Skidmore became the first Tory MP to switch his support from ‘former chancellor at Truss.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the Kingswood MP said “the status quo cannot be an option”. The former universities minister added: “Over the last few weeks, I have become increasingly concerned about the ever-changing position of his campaign, particularly on the economy, to chase votes.”
On Tuesday night, Sunak said Truss’s plans would not help sections of the population and said whoever became prime minister should not rule out direct support. Truss has said he would focus on tax cuts rather than pledging additional direct help with energy bills.
“If you’re a pensioner, if you’re on the national living wage, the tax cuts are worth zero,” Sunak said. “This is not a policy to help people through the winter and I think it is wrong to rule out aid outright because we, as a Conservative government, have an obligation to help the most vulnerable.
“If we don’t do this, not only will the people suffer, but we will be absolutely screwed when it comes to the next election. The British people will not forgive us if we don’t.”
In the first rehearsals that took place at the “red wall”, one of the most significant moments of the evening came when nearly 40% of the attendees raised their hands when asked who was still undecided, a much larger number of that the polls suggest. By the end of the debate, however, when the host, TalkTV host Tom Newton Dunn, asked the question again, that number had dropped to 10% of the audience.
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Truss said she would take more seats on the Red Wall as prime minister, rather than just defending the seats won in 2019. “As Blair himself would say, things can only get better. If you select me to be your prime minister, I will work to take new seats in the North East – Wansbeck, I will work to take Sunderland and I will work to win big. And I know we can do it.”
At the audience at Darlington Racecourse, there were some murmurs of displeasure from the crowd of Tory members. One of the biggest cheers went to Boris Johnson when he appeared in the montage of the opening video and an audience member shouted: “Bring him back.”
At one point, when Tory chairman Andrew Stephenson said the election campaign would take place over the next two years, another member wailed loudly: “Who says that?”