Penny Mordaunt has admitted that her plans to cut taxes will lead to increased government borrowing.
Ms Mordaunt said her proposals to halve VAT on petrol and raise tax thresholds represented a “modest” set of changes to help people struggling with the rising cost of living.
“We need to demonstrate that there is some immediate targeted support going to people. We would have to adjust our tax forecasts but this is absolutely necessary, I think,” she told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme.
“There is plenty of headroom to do this. This is, compared to other candidates, a very modest set of targeted support I have announced to help people.” She acknowledged that would mean borrowing to fund day-to-day spending.
Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak is pledging to scrap hundreds of remaining EU laws and regulations if he wins the race for the Tory crown in a fresh pitch to win over Brexiteers.
The former chancellor has said he would appoint a Brexit minister to go through the remaining 2,400 EU laws still on the statute book.
It comes as the remaining five contenders still in the contest are preparing for the second televised debate to be screened on ITV on Sunday evening.
The 10 economic commitments we need from the next Tory leader
The harsh truth is that whatever their aspirations are, they can only be successful if the economy is successful, writes Hamish McRae.
The 10 economic commitments we need from the next Tory leader | Hamish McRae
The harsh truth is that whatever their aspirations are, they can only be successful if the economy is successful, writes Hamish McRae
Truss ‘has not done a single broadcast interview’
The Daily Mail’s deputy editor John Stevens reports that Liz Truss has not done any broadcast interviews during the Tory leadership campaign.
Every other candidate has appeared before some form of broadcast media, with Tom Tugendhat and Penny Mordaunt appearing today on the BBC. Kemi Badenoch and Rishi Sunak have also made themselves available for interview.
Rob Burley, executive editor of Tonight With Andrew Marr, added that he was told the Truss’s team has no plans for any interviews this week either.
Iain Duncan Smith ‘doesn’t know’ what Penny Mordaunt has done in past few years
There ‘will be a bit more borrowing’ under Truss tax cut plans, says Braverman
Attorney General Suella Braverman said there “will be a bit more borrowing” under the tax cut plans outlined by Liz Truss.
Ms Braverman has offered her support to the Foreign Secretary’s campaign after she was knocked out of the Tory leadership contest.
Told Ms Truss promised approximately £30 billion of tax cuts in the first leadership debate, Ms Braverman told Times Radio: “Liz has worked in the Treasury in a senior position and when she says she wants to cut taxes, I entirely agree with her.”
Asked if that will mean more borrowing, the Conservative MP replied: “Not necessarily entirely based on more borrowing, I think there will be a bit more borrowing but we will be able to grow our way out of the issue to afford tax cuts.
“We know that when we cut taxes there is more investment by the private sector, there are more jobs, there is more return to the Exchequer.”
Ms Braverman also said Ms Truss is taking a “common sense approach to identity politics”, adding: “She knows what a woman is, which is becoming worryingly rare these days in political debate.”
Penny Mordaunt criticises ‘smears’ against her Tory leadership campaign
Tom Tugendhat calls deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda ‘a totem’ but would let plan go ahead
Tom Tugendhat has called the plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda “a totem”, but said he would keep it if he wins the Tory leadership race.
The outsider argued it is more important to “close down the roots” of people trafficking across the Mediterranean and avoided saying the policy – involving a £120m upfront payment and unknown further costs – is value for money.
But the candidate promising “a clean start” after the Boris Johnson years joined with all his rivals in saying Priti Patel’s hardline plan should be given time to establish if it can work.
Rob Merrick reports.
Tom Tugendhat calls deporting refugees to Rwanda ‘a totem’ but would not stop it
Tory leadership contender wants Navy ships in Mediterranean to ‘close down roots’ of trafficking – but says hardline policy should be given ‘a bit more time’
NHS ‘will be really pushed’ during heatwave
Lord Victor Adebowale said the NHS “will cope” over the next few days, but added that “coping isn’t good enough”.
He told Times Radio: “My members are pretty stretched at the moment. Ambulances are operating at their peak, the waiting times for ambulances are now getting longer.
“We are going to be really, really pushed and it’s not just the red warning, the heatwave. We are dealing with Covid, which is causing sickness in our ambulance crews, which is one of the reasons we’ve got vacancies. And we’ve also got a social care challenge, which is we can’t get people out of hospital because social care is on its knees.”
Lord Adebowale added: “The NHS will cope but coping isn’t good enough. We need to be actually operating in a way that allows people to get the treatment they need wherever needed, in good time. And that’s a struggle.”
The chairman of the NHS Confederation has said hospitals are going to be “really, really pushed” over the next few days.
Braverman brands Mordaunt ‘woke’
Suella Braverman has branded Penny Mordaunt “woke” and says she disagrees with her views on “trans ideology”.
She told Times Radio: “My view of Penny is that she is woke, yes. I have no disrespect to her for her woke views, but I think we should call it out for what it is”
However Ms Braverman added that she thought Ms Mordaunt was a “remarkable lady” but that she disagrees with her views on “trans ideology, gender ideology and the definition of a woman.”
It comes amid accusations levelled at Ms Mordaunt that she has not been honest about her stance on trans rights.
Mordaunt repeats false claim that UK could not stop Turkey joining EU
Penny Mordaunt has repeated her notorious false claim that the UK was unable to stop Turkey joining the EU – insisting the veto would not have been used.
The Tory leadership contender, who also faces accusations of dishonesty over her stance on trans rights, was accused of ignoring “actual facts” that the EU treaty granted a block on new members.
Confronted with an interview from the 2016 Brexit referendum – when the Leave campaign was seeking to stir up alarm about migrants from Turkey – Ms Mordaunt replied: “The clip says it as I see it.”
Rob Merrick reports.
Penny Mordaunt repeats false claim that UK could not stop Turkey joining EU
Tory leadership contender accused of ignoring ‘actual facts’ – but insists veto would have been worthless
Mordaunt admits tax cut plans will lead to increased government borrowing
Penny Mordaunt has acknowledged that her plans to cut taxes will lead to increased government borrowing.
Ms Mordaunt said her proposals to halve VAT on petrol and raise tax thresholds represented a “modest” set of changes to help people struggling with the rising cost of living.
“We need to demonstrate that there is some immediate targeted support going to people. We would have to adjust our tax forecasts but this is absolutely necessary, I think,” she told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme.
“There is plenty of headroom to do this. This is, compared to other candidates, a very modest set of targeted support I have announced to help people.”
She acknowledged that would mean borrowing to fund day-to-day spending, saying: “We will have to do that for some time. The important thing is that debt (to GDP) ratio will fall over time.”
