To govern is to choose. So leadership contests for a party in government tend to come down to a key policy question. In 2019 it was how to break the Brexit deadlock; this time it is what to do about the economy. Should the new prime minister prioritise tackling inflation or delivering immediate tax cuts?
The candidates have been divided on this issue. Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, who I have been friends with for years, argues inflation makes everybody poorer and so getting control of it must be the primary objective. On the other side is Liz Truss. The Foreign Secretary wants, as she tells Isabel Hardman in this issue, to introduce £30 billion of tax cuts straight away. Penny Mordaunt, the trade minister, hasn’t gone that far – she says that this contest is not the right time to set out what her fiscal approach would be. But she has committed to slashing VAT on fuel from 20 per cent to 10 per cent.
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