Boris vs Hunt: a voter’s guide

Voting is finally underway in the Tory leadership contest. So should Britain’s next prime minister be Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt? Boris is the clear frontrunner but could Jeremy Hunt’s impressive campaign mean that another political upset is on the cards?

In some areas, the pair are in complete agreement: they both oppose a second referendum on Scottish Independence, want to reduce Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 and have pledged to tackle the North-South divide.

But what of the policy differences? Here’s a round up of where each candidate stands:

Brexit

Boris Johnson:

Boris has pledged that Britain will leave the EU by 31 October ‘come what may, do or die’, and has not ruled out proroguing Parliament in order to achieve this. His Brexit plan is to first seek to negotiate a new deal with the EU which replaced the Irish backstop with alternative arrangements. Boris has threatened to withhold the £39 billion divorce bill until a new deal is agreed.