UK Conservative Leadership Candidate Faces Further Voting Following Television Debate

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The field will be narrowed again on Monday night for candidates fighting for the next prime minister of Britain.

After two debates on television on Friday and Sunday, a third vote is expected to eliminate one of the five promising candidates for the Conservative Party.

However, the third television debate scheduled for Tuesday was canceled after Foreign Minister Liz Truss and former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said they did not want to attend.

Sky News, a network aimed at hosting the debate, said in a statement, “Conservative lawmakers are said to be concerned about the damage the debate has caused to the Conservative image. It reveals disagreements and divisions within. “

Tax

During the ITV-sponsored Sunday debate, economic policy remained a key point of the conflict, and snacks were being attacked from all directions.

Truss has criticized Snack, the Treasury boss until 12 days ago, for “hindering economic growth” by raising taxes “to the highest level in 70 years.”

Snack defended his record and blamed the “once in 100 years” tax increase on the COVID-19 pandemic. He also labeled other candidates’ tax cuts as “economics for what” and said they were “socialism, not conservative.”

Epoch Times Photo
Conservative Leader Candidate Chemi Badenock will speak at the UK’s Next Prime Minister: ITV Debate on July 17, 2022 at Riverside Studios in London. (ITV via Jonathan Hordle / Getty Images)

Asked if he saw himself as a socialist prime minister on Saturday, Sunak dismissed the label saying he wanted to figure out inflation before offering a tax cut.

Trade policy minister Penny Modant, who said he plans to halve the value-added tax on fuel and raise individual tax standards in line with inflation, denied her plan was inflation, but a more detailed economy. Refusing to make a plan faced a question from Tom Tagendat. ..

Tugendat has promised to overturn the recent national insurance tax hike and reduce fuel taxes. The Diplomatic Commission chairman also said in a previous discussion that full spending would be permanent, meaning that companies could immediately deduct full spending on new equipment rather than diversifying it over the years. Said that it would be.

Chemi Badenoch, who has played many ministerial roles in the three government sectors, said he would implement an emergency budget to reduce fuel taxes and prioritize inflation efforts.

COVID-19 loan fraud, defense spending, China

Snacks that outperformed the candidate league in the first two rounds of ballot also clashed with other candidates on many issues.

Badenock, who worked for the Treasury during the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, dismissed the minister’s concerns about COVID-19 load fraud and cost taxpayers £ 17 billion ($ 20 billion). Blame Sunak as.

Snacks defended his decision, saying he had to prioritize making money for businesses sooner. He also said that a system was set up to recover the funds, and since then the estimated cost of fraud has been reduced by a third.

Mordant and Tagendat sought a snack record for defense spending.

Epoch Times Photo
Conservative leader candidate Rishi Sunak will speak at “The Next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom: ITV Debate” at Riverside Studios in London on July 17, 2022. (ITV via Jonathan Hordle / Getty Images)

Asked why he wouldn’t raise defense spending as prime minister, Snack told Mordant: [Ministry of Defence], Our defense has gained the largest increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War. “

“We should take a threat-based approach to defense spending, rather than sticking to arbitrary goals,” Snack said.

Former soldier Tugendhat subsequently said 10,000 troops had been unemployed during Sunak’s inauguration as prime minister.

Truss asked if the snack was “still thinking”[s] We should do more business with China. “

This is after Global Times, one of the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpieces, wrote an article praising snacks as the only candidate “with a practical view of building a balanced relationship with China.” That is.

In response to the truss, Snack acknowledged that China’s regime was a “huge threat” to Britain’s national security, but after Britain took steps to protect itself, involvement between the two countries. Should not be stopped.

General election and net zero

Candidates have united in several areas, including not giving in to the union’s demands for public sector salaries, the absence of Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the new cabinet, and not convening a general election after the leadership race.

When asked if they would sit at the G20 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, four candidates said they would not sit in the current situation while Truss said he was ready to call him. rice field.

Regarding the UK’s 2050 Net Zero Climate Goal, four candidates are committed to the goal, but said they will do it in a way that does not make life for people and businesses less difficult, Badenock said. I said I would change it. Some plans make this country go bankrupt. “

The results of the vote on Monday will be announced at 8 pm, with more votes on Tuesday and Wednesday, creating the last two candidates to compete for the votes of 160,000 conservatives.

The final results will be announced on September 5, and the new Prime Minister will take office the next day.

Lily Chow

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Lily Zhou is a freelance writer who mainly covers the British news of The Epoch Times.

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