Tax Cuts Issue That's Driving The Leadership Contest

With three make-or-break days in the Conservative leadership contest ahead, the bitter clashes so far have already laid bare the struggle for the soul of a party that appears determined to erase the political legacy of Boris Johnson.

- Heather Stewart

The focus on what the shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has called an “arms race” over tax cuts, underlines the fact the Conservatives seem to be heading into very different political territory from that marked out in the 2019 election campaign, when Johnson asked long-time Labour voters to lend him their support.

The candidates to succeed him have barely mentioned public services, aside from Penny Mordaunt’s mysterious claim that none of the “top 180 innovations we have had” are used in the NHS – and Sunak’s repeated reminders that his father was a GP, and his mother a pharmacist. Levelling up has been noticeable for its absence from the debate, too.

Asked about the impact of their tax cut promises on public services in Friday’s TV debate, most either muttered about reform, or praised the heroism of NHS workers during the pandemic. The next vote takes place on Monday.