Tory leadership - live: Truss tax cuts would not help vulnerable pensioners, Sunak says

Conservative minister for London, Paul Scully, who is supporting Liz Truss in the leadership contest, said she would “set targets for cutting crime”.

He told LBC Radio: “She wants to continue and absolutely deliver on the 20,000 police officers recruitment to make sure that we’re at full numbers and make sure that they’re visible out on the streets, where people can see them, where they’re also adding intelligence for the rest of the police force in tackling crime.

“She’s going to set targets for cutting crime, the most serious crime by 20 per cent, and also having those serious crimes like homicide and assaults, etc, reported on in league tables as well so that people can actually see what their police force are doing and make it open and transparent.”

Former Treasury official James Dowling has said Boris Johnson’s government could announce measures to ease the cost of living crisis, if there is an agreement with both the Tory leadership candidates.

“If find myself in the strange position of agreeing with Gordon Brown – it’s perfectly possible for the government to turn out something on this. The convention is not that the government does nothing while a leadership election goes on.”

“You can announce something, you’ve just got to agree it with the rival parties. The problem you run into on doing anything this is that it cuts across the [Liz] Truss plans.“

Liz Truss has offered £40bn-ish of tax cuts. There’s a real question about how consistent that is with some kind of wholesale intervention to relieve the cost of fuel bills. It strikes me as inescapable that you’ve got to do that [offer support on fuel bills].”

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has accused both Conservative leadership candidates of being in a “parallel universe” as he called on the Government to “cancel the October energy price rise”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We all know that energy prices are going to go up dramatically in October, but we’ve heard nothing from either candidate of the Conservatives for prime minister. They’ve got no plan, it’s almost as if they’re living in a parallel universe.

“Liberal Democrats are now publishing our plan and what we’re saying is the Government should cancel the October energy price rise. If it does, it will avoid a social catastrophe. Millions of families and pensioners will go hungry and cold this winter unless bold measures like Liberal Democrats are proposing is put in place. They’ve got to act now.”

He added: “The poorest 10% of households pay three times as much of their income on energy as the richest 10%, so it’s going to help the poorest the most by a long way, but even people on modest and middle incomes are going to have a body blow with this rise, so it’s right that we need this bold measure.”

Without the measure, Sir Ed argued, the economy will go into recession.

He added: “First of all, we need a much bigger windfall tax. Liberal Democrats were the first party to argue for a windfall tax on the oil and gas companies. Unfortunately Rishi Sunak’s proposal is far too timid and weak ... what we’re proposing is that this windfall tax should have started from profits from October last year.”

Senior Tory MP Mark Harper – a Rishi Sunak backer – has been asked about a report in the i newspaper that civil servants have started discussions with Truss camp about implementing her proposals, but have not begun discussions with the Sunak camp.

“I would expect the civil service to be working on both of those [candidates] proposals,” he told Times Radio.

Asked if it would be a slap in the face for Sunak, Harper said: “That would be extraordinary. These conversations would have to be authorised by the prime minister, so perhaps it’s a question you should direct to Downing Street.”

Harper said people could be “peace of mind” that the former chancellor would provide more “targeted” support on the cost of living this winter.

Harper compared his pledges with Liz Truss, saying she had “ruled out handouts” by prioritising tax cuts.

“Targeted, limited support for a period has much less of an impact than permanent, large unfunded tax cuts, that are funded by borrowing,” he said.

Liz Truss’ economic vision and Dominic Raab’s warning over her emergency tax-cutting budget risks featured prominently in many UK newspapers this morning.

The Independent‘s front page leads with Boris Johnson’s refusal to take emergency action over the rising cost of living.

Tory leadership frontrunner Ms Truss lays out her “bold” economic vision to the Daily Express, as the foreign secretary insists she is “on the side” of the British people.

But deputy prime minister Dominic Raab claims Ms Truss’s emergency tax-cutting budget risks becoming an “electoral suicide note” for Conservatives, according to The Times and The Guardian.

See more front pages here:

Rishi Sunak would press Whitehall departments to make savings to help fund cost-of-living support for millions of people during an “extremely tough” winter.

The former chancellor said his plan, if he becomes prime minister, involves keeping any one-off borrowing to an “absolute minimum” by seeking “efficiency savings” across government departments.

His team said the approach would aim to replicate previous measures used to fund support for Ukraine.

Read more:

Liz Truss has reiterated her vow to set police targets to “cut key crimes by 20 per cent”, despite mounting warnings over the potential consequences.

During a visit to a youth centre on Monday alongside former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, the current leadership frontrunner outlined her crime policies.

They include plans to order police to reduce serious crimes by 20 per cent below 2019 levels, by the end of the current parliament in 2024.

Read more from Lizzie Dearden here:

Boris Johnson is facing growing calls to end a “summer of drift” and take action on the cost of living crisis, as he was accused of failing hard-up Britons by refusing to offer fresh help or even hold emergency meetings.

Labour said the government’s failure to act on spiralling inflation showed it had “lost control” of the economy after No 10 dismissed former prime minister Gordon Brown’s call for the recall of parliament and an emergency Budget.

The head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) backed Mr Brown’s call for immediate intervention, urging Mr Johnson to meet Tory leadership rivals Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to discuss potential help on soaring energy bills.

Read more from Adam Forrest and Ben Chapman:

The expected energy price cap increase in October should be scrapped by the next prime minister and the cost covered with a windfall tax on oil and gas companies, the Liberal Democrat leader has said.

Sir Ed Davey said neither of the Tory leadership hopefuls - Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak - had grasped the enormity of the challenge that people are facing this autumn, as the cost of living crisis is set to get worse for millions of UK households.

Experts have predicted that the energy price cap could rise to £3,358 annually from October, and could hit £3,615 from January. In October 2021 the average energy bill was £1,400 a year.

Joe Middleton has more details: