The winner in the battle between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak is not as obvious as one thought, according to polls. Foreign minister Liz Truss, the frontrunner to replace British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has a smaller lead over her rival Rishi Sunak than previously thought, according to a poll of party members.
Truss is reportedly backed by only 48% of Tory members, compared to the 43% for the former finance minister Sunak, according to the poll of 807 people by Italian data company Techne, carried out July 19-27.
These results indicate a much tighter race than a previous poll of Conservative members carried out by YouGov on July 20-21 that showed Truss with a 24-point lead over Mr. Sunak.
Taxes have dominated the race so far, with Sunak accusing Truss of being “dishonest” with her promises of major tax cuts as soon as she enters office. Meanwhile, Sunak promised to control inflation before cutting taxes, something that Truss believes would push the country into a recession.
Over 60% of Conservative members in the Techne poll said Truss had better ideas on taxes than Sunak, and they also supported her plans to tackle inflation and handle immigration. However, respondents said Sunak was more trusted to deliver on Brexit and had better policies on education.
Truss was extensively criticised by the opposition party and some Tory MPs on Tuesday after she vowed to save billions of pounds a year by tailoring public sector pay to the cost of living in the region where people work rather than having a national pay agreement.
“There is simply no way you can do this without a massive pay cut for 5.5m people including nurses, police officers, and our armed forces outside London,” said Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley.
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said Truss’s plans showed the Conservative government’s commitment to reducing inequalities between the north and south of Britain “is dead”.
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