Politics

Rishi Sunak has unveiled a plan to slash rising energy bills for up to 16 million vulnerable people which he hopes will propel him to 10 Downing Street. In a dramatic move as his Tory leadership clash with Liz Truss becomes increasingly bitter, he is said to be prepared to find up to £10bn to

Boris Johnson has doubled down on his insistence that it is for his successor to “make significant fiscal decisions” after crisis talks with energy bosses ended with no new measures to ease the cost of living crisis. Speaking after the meeting, the prime minister said he would continue to urge the energy sector to ease

Nearly 50,000 people have signed a petition backing former prime minister Gordon Brown’s call for an emergency budget to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. On Monday Mr Brown warned people will have to go without food and will be unable to heat their homes by October if the government does not take urgent action. He told

Allies of Rishi Sunak have played down the defection of a Tory MP to supporting Liz Truss as the two campaign teams continued to trade blows over economic policy. Former Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers, who is backing Mr Sunak, said that “inevitably MPs change their mind during these contests”, when asked on Sky News about

Rishi Sunak has promised to give “hundreds of pounds” more to people for energy bills while Liz Truss refused to commit to extra support for struggling families. Mr Sunak said he is “confident” he could find the money needed to support people with the rising cost of living from government efficiency savings if was to

The Liberal Democrats are demanding parliament be recalled from its summer recess to pass a law to scrap impending hikes in energy prices. The party has drafted legislation to cancel the price cap rise, which is due to be announced at the end of the month and coming into force in October. The Energy Price

Downing Street has rejected calls for Boris Johnson to summon an emergency COBRA meeting to deal with the cost of living crisis. Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, has called for Mr Johnson to meet with his two potential successors and thrash out a financial package of measures before energy bills soar in October.

Liz Truss was not ruling out future cost of living support when she said she would reject “handouts”, her supporters have said, with prominent backer Penny Mordaunt claiming the comments were “misinterpreted”. Leadership rival Rishi Sunak attacked the comments saying the foreign secretary needs to “get real”, while claiming her plan to cut taxes immediately

Rishi Sunak has vowed to phase out university degrees that do not improve students’ “earning potential”, under plans to reform education if he became the UK’s next prime minister. In proposals announced tonight, the Tory leadership contender pledged to create a Russell Group of technical colleges. The changes would mark “a significant stride towards parity

The Conservative leadership hopefuls have clashed over how best to help households amid the cost of living crisis, with Liz Truss ruling out direct support and insisting instead on tax cuts – an approach her rival has called “simply wrong”. Ms Truss, the Tory frontrunner, has rejected “handouts” to help households through the worse income

Liz Truss has pledged to “immediately” reverse the increase in National Insurance if she wins the race for Number 10. The foreign secretary said she would make the move in an emergency budget in September while announcing other tax cuts. But leadership rival Rishi Sunak hit out at her plans, contrasting his “clear-eyed realism” with

Liz Truss was interrupted by activists as she attempted to deliver her opening speech at a Conservative Party hustings in Eastbourne. The protesters from Green New Deal Rising shouted “shame on you” and “Green New Deal” as they stood holding placards inside the hustings venue. “I think we have some infiltrators and I will wait

Rishi Sunak has said Nicola Sturgeon needs to be beaten rather than ignored, aiming a dig at Liz Truss who earlier this week called Scotland’s first minister an “attention seeker”. Mr Sunak said Ms Sturgeon and her party the SNP “pose an existential threat to our cherished union”, adding: “Arguing that we should ignore them

Rishi Sunak has been accused of “funnelling taxpayers’ money to rich Tory shires” after he told party members he had been working to divert funding from “deprived urban areas”. A video obtained by the New Statesman magazine shows the former chancellor proudly telling grassroots Conservatives that he had started changing public funding formulas to ensure more

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak faced tough challenges from Conservative members during a Sky News programme just hours after interest rates were hiked. Ms Truss won the coin toss to face the audience of Tory voters first, followed by an interview with Sky News’ Kay Burley. However, it was Mr Sunak who won the audience

This is the moment that matters. On the advice of the National Cyber Security Centre, an arm of GCHQ, the Conservative party has delayed sending out ballot papers to its members – originally expected last weekend. As a result the next seven days, beginning today, are now crucial to determining the next prime minister of

Sajid Javid has thrown his support behind Liz Truss as the next Conservative Party leader, in what will come as a huge blow to Rishi Sunak. The former health secretary, and ex-leadership hopeful, attacked Mr Sunak’s economic policies as he revealed his choice in The Times this evening. He suggested Mr Sunak’s refusal to cut

Conservative members are facing delays in receiving their postal ballots to vote for who they want to be the party’s next leader due to security fears. In a letter sent to Tory members seen by Sky News, the Conservative Party’s head of membership confirmed postal ballots will arrive “a little later than we originally said”

Liz Truss has extended her lead over Rishi Sunak among Tory members, according to a new poll, after the foreign secretary U-turned on a plan to link public sector pay to regional living costs. On Monday night, the leadership race frontrunner said she would save £8.8bn by introducing regional pay boards instead of national ones

Conservative leadership hopeful Liz Truss is promising to “wage war on Whitehall waste” with proposals to shake up civil service pay. The foreign secretary says she will save up to £11bn a year by adjusting wages for regional jobs, scrapping roles focused on diversity and inclusion, and ending paid time off for union officials to