Tory leadership race - live: Mordaunt criticised for supporting homeopathy on NHS

Rishi Sunak has been given a big boost in the Tory leadership race by winning the backing of the figure seen as the party’s ‘Mr North’.

Ben Houchen, the influential Tees Valley mayor, had criticised the failure of the contest to guarantee that Boris Johnson’s pledge to ‘level up’ the country will be carried forward.

Now Mr Houchen is endorsing the former chancellor as “a friend of the North” after securing a commitment to extend devolution deals with possible future freedoms over business rates and post-16 education.

Rob Merrick reports.

Social media users have drawn comparisons between Liz Truss’s outfit at the first Tory leadership debate and a look worn by Margarat Thatcher in 1979.

The foreign secretary, who took part in the Channel 4 event on Friday (15 July), opted for a black blazer over a white blouse featuring a bow tie detail across the neck.

Twitter users quickly noted a resemblance to the outfit worn by the former Conservative prime minister during a 1979 election broadcast.

Saman Javed reports.

Liz Truss has floated another expensive tax cut if she wins the Tory leadership race, despite criticism that her economic plans are “a fairytale”.

The foreign secretary says she would explore giving parents a tax break of up to £2,500 to help them take time out of work to look after children or other family members.

Rishi Sunak scored a major hit on the right-wing candidate in Friday’s live TV debate when he called for “honesty” over tax reductions until soaring inflation has been tamed.

Rob Merrick reports.

Boris Johnson’s planned 5% pay rise for millions of public sector workers is insufficient and will not be found “remotely acceptable” by nurses, according to a union.

A Cabinet minister has told the Financial Times the government will agree to pay rises averaging about 5 per cent for the 2.5 million staff in the sector, who include nurses, teachers, police, civil servants and members of the armed forces.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has previously set out the case for a pay rise of 5 per cent above the level of retail price index inflation, which is currently over 11 per cent.

Tory leadership hopeful Liz Truss has pledged that families could receive tax breaks of up to £2,500, as reported by the Daily Mail.

Ms Truss has promised a radical overhaul of the taxation system if she gets into Downing Street that would also include ditching green levies on energy bills and reversing an increase to national insurance.

The foreign secretary also said she would axe the planned increase in corporation tax, which is set to rise from 19 to 25 per cent in 2023.

Tory leadership race favourite Penny Mordaunt is under fire for her support of homeopathy from critics of the use of alternative medicine.

The former defence secretary has frequently advocated the practice – the use of natural substances to help the body heal itself – according to an analysis of her parliamentary record and past comments.

Ms Mordaunt was one of 16 supporters of a motion in the House of Commons sharply criticising the British Medical Association for withdrawing NHS support for homeopathy, in June 2010.

Rob Merrick reports.

The Cabinet Office Minister Kit Malthouse is to chair a meeting of the Government’s Cobra civil contingencies committee to discuss the impending heatwave, a Government spokesman said.

It will be the second Cobra meeting Mr Malthouse has led on the issue.

More voters are deserting the Conservative party because of inaction on cost of living and rising bills than animosity to Boris Johnson, a new poll has found.

The findings, seen by The Independent, come after Tory MPs forced the prime minister out of office, believing he had become an electoral liability.

But a survey by ComRes of wavering Tories suggests that it is rising energy bills more than Mr Johnson himself who is most to blame – though he is also a significant drag on support.

Jon Stone reports.