Tory leadership – live: Truss ally accuses Sunak of ‘flip-flopping’ after tax U-turn

Rishi Sunak has denied quitting as chancellor in order to force a leadership contest, insisting that he was “looking forward to a nice holiday” after dramatically resigning earlier this month.

The former chancellor’s bid to succeed Boris Johnson has been undermined by the reluctance of many Tory members to vote for the man they believe “wielded the knife” to oust the prime minister.

Johnson himself has made little secret of his feeling that Sunak’s resignation was a betrayal, and suspicion over his motives have been fuelled by reports that allies were discussing social media strategies for a leadership bid months ago.

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more:

A lack of support for women going through the menopause in the workplace is driving female workers out of their jobs and prompting the UK economy to “haemorrhage talent”, MPs warned in a damning new report.

The research, carried out by the Women and Equalities Committee in the Commons, suggested employers’ dearth of provision for menopausal women will have repercussions on the gender pay and pension gaps, as well as the amount of women taking up senior leadership roles.

MPs called for a menopause ambassador to be appointed in an attempt to stop the high numbers of #women leaving the workplace.

The Independent’s women’s correspondent Maya Oppenheim reports:

Liz Truss has promised to build stronger economic and trade ties with Commonwealth nations to counter China’s “growing malign influence”.

If she succeeds Boris Johnson as prime minister in September, Ms Truss would launch a “new Commonwealth deal”, aimed at strengthening economic ties across the Commonwealth.

Her plan would expedite bilateral trade agreements with Commonwealth partners, which her campaign team argues would supercharge the Commonwealth trade cost advantage, which is already 21 per cent lower on average for trade between Commonwealth countries versus non-members.

Martina Bet reports:

The contenders for the Conservative leadership were today competing to show they are tough on violence against women and girls, with Rishi Sunak proposing a new “down-blousing” offence and Liz Truss offering a law against misogynistic street harassment.

Mr Sunak said that as prime minister he would create a new emergency taskforce to hunt down grooming gangs, as well as tightening the law to ensure perpetrators remain behind bars for longer.

And Ms Truss said she would rapidly introduce a National Domestic Abuse Register to break the cycle of repeat offending by abusive men.

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports:

Boris Johnson loyalists are reportedly plotting to find a safe Conservative seat for the outgoing prime minister over fears he could lose his Uxbridge constiuency.

The Mirror claims that Mr Johnson was “testing the waters” to find a willing ally who might step down from a seat with a larger Tory majority in looking to a potential return to No 10.

One source told the newspaper: “Boris thinks the Tory party has made a huge mistake getting rid of him and, with time, will come to regret it.

“It might sound deluded but his team thinks he can have another go at prime minister if he holds on.

“But sticking with Uxbridge would be risky. So they’re looking at options”.

The Labour leadership is on a “direct collision course” with trade union chiefs who have been left “absolutely fuming” by the sacking of Sam Tarry from the party frontbench for joining a rail strike picket line.

Junior shadow transport minister Sam Tarry attended a demonstration at Euston Station in London – defying the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s order to stay away from rail worker demonstrations.

“The Labour party is born out of the trade union movement, and if we’re not able to show solidarity and have a constructive dialogue with trade unions, then I think we have a real problem,” Mr Tarry told LBC.

“I think it’s wrong to say that any Labour poltician – if it be a councillor, if it be an MP, if it be a shadow minister – shouldn’t be showing solidarity, and I think that we are going to see that hit breaking point over the next few months.”

He continued “I have just fielded phone calls from seven different general secretaries – all Labour affiliated, one not Labour affiliated.

“Those general secretaries are absolutely fuming about what’s happened today. They now are on a direct collision course with the Labour party leadership, and that was totally avoidable.”