What are Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt's main policies if they become prime minister?
Politics Explained: Both candidates vying to be prime minister have pledged to renegotiate the Brexit deal, cut taxes and raise public spending
Boris Johnson will face Jeremy Hunt in the next stage of the Tory leadership contest after a series of ballots of Conservative MPs whittled the field down to a final two.
The two candidates will spend the next month touring the country meeting Conservative members and taking part in a series of hustings and debates.
A total of 160,000 party members will be eligible to vote in the contest, which will finish at the end of July.
But what are the main policy differences between Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt?
Brexit
Boris Johnson has promised to renegotiate Theresa May’s Brexit deal to remove or amend the parts that are unacceptable to Tory MPs and the DUP. He has insisted it is “eminently feasible” to do this before the 31 October deadline.
Johnson has said he would take Britain out of the EU by 31 October with or without a deal, warning that there would be a “catastrophic loss of confidence in politics” if there is a further delay to Brexit.
Jeremy Hunt also wants to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement and, like his rival, believes this is possible by 31 October. He has said he would send a cross-party team of MPs to negotiate with the EU, including members of the DUP.
He differs from Johnson in that he would be willing to consider a further delay to Brexit if it would guarantee that the UK left the EU with a deal.
However, the current foreign secretary has made clear that if the choice was between no deal and no Brexit, he would choose no deal.
Tax
Johnson drew fire early in the contest after announcing plans to cut income tax for wealthier earners. He has pledged to raise the threshold for the higher rate of income tax from £50,000 to £80,000, although he later appeared to suggest that this was an aspiration rather than a firm pledge.
According to the New Economic Foundation think tank, such a move would cost £9.5bn a year and would make the wealthiest 20 per cent of families £1,790 a year better off, while doing nothing to help the poorest 20 per cent. As a result, 50,000 households would be forced into relative poverty.
The frontrunner also wants to abolish national insurance on the first £1,000 of earnings.
Hunt has said he would cut the rate of corporation tax from 19 per cent to 12.5 per cent, at an estimated cost of £13bn a year. He is also looking at plans to give tax breaks to families who adapt their homes or build new ones for elderly relatives.
Public spending
Johnson has said his priorities as prime minister would be education, infrastructure and technology.
He has pledged to spend at least £5,000 on every secondary school pupil in a bid to “level up” the education system, and would spend billions of pounds on ensuring that all UK homes have access to super-fast broadband by 2025, rather than by 2033 as currently planned.
As mayor of London, he championed infrastructure projects such as the Thames cable car and the Garden Bridge.
Despite this, it is unclear whether he would push ahead with HS2, having said only that he would “review” plans for the new high-speed rail line.
Hunt, meanwhile, has called for the defence budget to be increased by a “significant” amount and said he would raise funding for schools as part of a deal in which teachers would be asked to agree to abolish child illiteracy.
He has admitted that cuts to local council budgets have gone too far despite, as a cabinet minister since 2010, having voted for all of them.
Environment
Both candidates support the government’s target of the UK having net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Johnson has trumpeted his record as mayor of London, claiming that carbon emissions in the capital fell by 40 per cent on his watch.
However, as an MP he repeatedly voted against policies designed to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions, including the introduction of a carbon capture and storage strategy for the energy industry.
He is a longstanding opponent of Heathrow expansion and previously said he would lie down in front of the bulldozers to stop it happening. However, he has refused to say whether he would reverse the decision to build a third runway at the airport.
Hunt has said little about the environment. During a television BBC debate last week, he said that tackling global warming was “a fundamental issue of trust” between young people and older generations.
Despite boasting of their green credentials, both candidates support fracking for shale gas.
Equalities
Both candidates have been criticised over their comments on equalities issues.
Johnson faced a Conservative Party probe last year after claiming that Muslim women who wear the veil look like “letterboxes” and “a bank robber”, although he was let off without punishment. He has previously made a number of other controversial remarks, including describing African people as “piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles”.
His supporters say he was one of the first Tory supporters of gay marriage, although as an MP he voted against legislation designed to reduce the gender pay gap.
Hunt, meanwhile, faced criticism earlier in the campaign for suggesting that the legal limit on abortion should be reduced from 24 weeks to 12, although he has insisted he would not seek a change to the law if he was prime minister.
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