Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss facing Tory members in Leeds for first official leadership hustings – UK politics live | Politics

LBC’s Nick Ferrari takes the stage now, ready to ask questions of Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

Ferrari speaks to Sunak first. he asks if he has done a U-turn over VAT on energy bills after saying it was “unconservative”.

“No, definitely not. There’s two very different things here. We have a short term problem with energy bills. We need to make sure that the support with energy bills is appropriate fo rthe scale for the challenge millions of households are facing.

“We announced support earlier this year for people after it was announced that energy bills will get to £2,800. For the most vulnerable families, that gets to about £1,200 of help. Now, people’s expectations of what will happen to energy bills has gone up. It is reasonable that there is more we can do.

“That’s a temporary and time limited support to help people.”

Another Yorkshire line from Liz Truss, who says that the Conservatives need to summon the spirit of former Leeds United manager Don Revie, who went on to have a chequered spell as England manager after leaving Elland Road.

“We need to win. My friends, we can win against Keir Starmer, who is a patronising, plastic patriot. He is beatable, but he is only beatable if we deliver. I can assure you, if you select me, if you elect me, I will work my socks off in No 10 to deliver all of the promises we made in 2019 and to deliver a victory for the Conservatives in 2024.”

That’s it for Truss’s speech, there’s a break now for a few minutes before it resumes with a question and answer session.

Truss said that people should be encouraged to “love their country”, after more references to straight-talking people in Yorkshire, free-speech and people knowing “a woman is a woman”.

She adds that people need to be proud to be Conservative. “The people who voted for us in 2019 in seats like Keighley or Dewsbury, they didn’t vote for us because they wanted Labour policies. They were fed up of Labour and Labour councils. They voted for us because they wanted opportunity and aspired to better things and aspired for better things in their area.”

Truss then turns to say that the UK needs to continue to stand up to Vladimir Putin, talking about the action that has been taken so far.

“I will not let up until Ukraine prevails and Putin fails.

“We have to recognise that we need to spend more on defence. After the cold war we let our guard slip and alowed the aggressors to expand. That is why I would put defence spending up to 3% of GDP by the end of the decade. There is nothing more important than freedom and democracy.”

After being introduced by James Cleverly, and a promotional video being played, Liz Truss walks on to the stage, which is round with chairs surrounding it.

Truss talks up her Leeds connections, among other things jokingly apologising to any former teachers of hers in the audience, saying she got “grit, determination and straight-talking” from Yorkshire.

“The fact is, we face a huge global economic crisis. We have the worst war that has taken place on European shores happening in Ukraine. Now is not the time for business as usual. Now is not the time for the status quo, we need to be bold and do things differently.”

She said she would reverse the increases in national insurance, stop the green levy on fuel bills, and not increase corporation tax in an attempt to encourage investment. Truss said she would abolish “Soviet-style” housing targets.

“I believe that we need to be on the side of people who work hard and do the right thing. People who save their money, people who start their own businesses, the self-employed, people who go into work every day. That’s whose side I’m on,” she said.

Truss says she will give power back to local people over planning, saying rules should not be the same in London as Yorkshire or Cornwall. She goes on to refer to the transport system in Leeds, saying it is the same as it was when she was a teenager. The foreign secretary repeats her pledge to go ahead with Northern Powerhouse Rail.

Sunak, speaking without notes, says borrowing is “not Conservative”, referring to Liz Truss’ plans, and adds that he will cut taxes for both people and business.

He says that he will take advantage of the benefits of Brexit, including reforming regulation in financial services, data and life sciences.

The former chancellor says that the Conservatives need to win a fifth election term. “It’s a challenge but I know we can do it together. But in order to do it, we will have to appeal to swing voters in every part of our country, north and south, remain and leave, urban and rural, Scotland and Wales, and I believe with all my heart, I am the person, I am the candidate, that gives our party the best opportunity to secure that victory and ensure that the Labour party and Keir Starmer never walk through the doors of No 10 Downing Street.”

Sunak admits he is the underdog, but compares his leadership candidacy to his attempt to become the candidate for Richmond seven years ago, when he became an MP.

“I promise you I am going to fight for every single vote. I am going to fight for the Conservative values that are core to who I am and what I stand for, and I am going to fight hard for the argument that we should not mortgage our children and grandchildren’s future to make our lives easier for today.”

Sunak continues:

“I want a Britain where the birthright of every child is a world-class education. A Britain which is built on hard work, aspiration and hope. A Britain where we lead the world in setting the standard for integrity, decency and leadership, and a Britain where we have enormous pride in our history and enormous confidence in our future.”

Sunak adds that trust needs to be restored, saying he has not taken an easy road and has wanted to be honest about the challenges that Britain faces.

“That’s what leadership is about,” he says.

He talks about his plans to tackle the NHS backlog, illegal immigration and address the cost-of-living crisis and soaring inflation.

“Yes, this is a compassionate and welcoming country but we must also have control of our borders and as prime minister I will grip that problem and solve it and restore trust back in the system.

“We need to grip inflation because it’s the enemy that makes everyone poorer. It reduces their living standards and erodes their hard-earned savings. It pushes up mortgage rates, and I will grip inflation and get it back down.”

David Davis is addressing the members in Leeds, as the event is now running behind schedule. The former leadership candidate – he came second in 2005 – calls Rishi Sunak a “man of great honesty and great integrity”.

Sunak’s first up. He says he’s had the “time of his life” in the last week as he’s been travelling across the country talking to members. He then launches into his stump speech about his family background.

“I’m standing before you all for one simple reason, that’s because this country did something absolutely incredible for my family. It welcomed them here as immigrants 60 years ago, and allowed them to build a better life. My Dad was an NHS GP. My Mum ran the local chemist in Southampton where I grew up. They brought me up with a set of values that are absolutely core to who I am today.

“The first of those values is that family means everything to me. The bonds of love, sacrifice, commitment that family brings are far greater than anything that any government could ever replicate, and nobody should ever forget that.”

He says his values are patriotism, aspiration, hard work, education, family and service. Sunak says they are Conservative values. “I want to put those Conservative values into action for this country,” he says.

A reminder of the format for tonight’s hustings: each candidate will give a 10-minute speech to start, which will be followed by a Q&A session. We’re just waiting for it to get under way.

Iain Dale is currently talking about hosting the last hustings in 2019 on LBC, with his colleague Nick Ferrari in the chair tonight.

Rishi Sunak has accepted another interview offer from a broadcaster, which Liz Truss is yet to agree to.

Sunak will speak to Nick Robinson in a one-on-one interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in August.

Although the broadcaster said it hopes Truss will also take part in an interview with Robinson in August, the foreign secretary’s campaign team has not yet confirmed if she will agree, PA Media reports.

Truss has so far declined to be interviewed by Andrew Neil on Channel 4, while Sunak has agreed.

The BBC News press team said on Twitter: “We can confirm Rishi Sunak will take part in a one-to-one interview with Nick Robinson on Wednesday August 10.

“As we announced last week, we’ve invited both candidates to be interviewed and we hope Liz Truss will join us later in August.”

A Conservative party councillor who was at the same school as Liz Truss at the same time as her, is the latest to challenge her claim it “let down” children in Roundhay, a suburb in the north of the city.

Truss went to Roundhay school, which is rated “outstanding” by Ofsted. She caused unhappiness with her recent assertion that it “let down” children and drove her to become a Conservative.

Voters in Leeds told the Guardian this week that Truss was “delusional” and that her claims were misleading. Another former pupil at the school at about the same time as Truss, the Guardian US’s Martin Pengelly said she was misrepresenting her education.

ITV’s Robert Peston spoke to Nathan Hull, a Tory councillor who went to Roundhay, outside the hustings in Leeds. He is supporting Rishi Sunak for the party’s leadership. He said: “I was in the year below Liz, and it was a fantastic school. My parents sent seven children there, every single child came out with a degree.

“I have a different recollection to the school she describes. It was a friendly place, first class education, brilliant teachers, the facilities were fantastic and everyone there was pretty pleased with the education they got.

“I disagreed with the whole sentiment of what she was saying. I don’t feel the children were let down by the school.”

Former cabinet minister David Gauke, has written a piece for the New Statesman (paywall) saying he can understand why Conservative party members like Liz Truss, but that electing her leader would be a gamble.

Gauke, who voted to remain in the EU and was kicked out of the Conservative party in 2019, losing as an independent in the general election later that year, said Truss is likeable and “engaging”.

He adds:

Her political skills can be underrated. She can be perceptive – I recall her telling me about the UK’s political realignment long before the idea became commonplace. In contrast to the current prime minister, she is not motivated by the desire to hold office for the sake of it but wishes to gain power because she wants to do things.

However Gauke said he fears that her convictions and values might come unstuck in the current economic and political climate, and that her stubbornness might end up being fatal.

The biggest risk of a prime minister Truss – and I think it is a very real and substantial risk – is that her determination is not tempered by realism and a willingness to listen to expert opinion. Conservative party members admire her ideological clarity, but they are taking the most enormous gamble on her judgement.

Candidates have started arriving at the Centenary Pavilion, in Elland Road, for tonight’s hustings. The venue is opposite Leeds United’s historic football stadium.

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will face questions from LBC’s Nick Ferrari from 7pm, in front of about 1,400 Conservative party members in the event hosted by the party.

Sunak earlier admitted he was the underdog in the contest, and polling has shown he is trailing his opponent with Tory members.

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Sunak and Truss prepare for first official Tory hustings in Leeds tonight at 7pm

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minister for government efficiency and Brexit opportunities, has opened a government hub building in Birmingham that will house up to 1,700 civil servants, from 20 government departments. This is part of a project that will see jobs relocated outside London. Some 880 jobs have already been moved to the West Midlands, the Cabinet Office says, and 2,100 will be relocated by 2025.

Rees-Mogg said: “This hub is an important part of our plans to create a leaner and more efficient public estate, which will save taxpayers’ money and serve the entire United Kingdom.”