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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Richard Murphy

30 questions Tory leadership candidates must answer as MPs hold crunch vote today

The remaining Tory Leadership hopefuls will be facing their first TV debate this weekend, after a string of behind-closed-doors events.

Last night, six candidates got through the first round of voting to be Britain's Prime Minister, but Jeremy Hunt was knocked out.

Rishi Sunak was in the lead as expected on 88 MPs' votes despite promising fewer tax cuts than his rivals.

He was followed by Penny Mordaunt on 67 MPs' support, while Foreign Secretary Liz Truss had 50.

Kemi Badenoch earned 40 after getting Michael Gove's support, moderate ex-military candidate Tom Tugendhat had 37, and 'woke warrior' Suella Braverman squeezed through with 32.

At 3pm today, another MP will be knocked out in a round of voting - and the candidates will take part in more behind-closed-doors hustings.

But it'll be the weekend before the public sees them go head-to-head for the first time. The candidates will join ITV for the show on Sunday, followed by another debate on Sky News on Monday. Channel 4 are also trying to arrange one at 7pm this Friday.

Penny Mordaunt gestures at an event to launch her campaign to be the next Conservative leader and Prime Minister (REUTERS)

So, what are the questions they really need to answer?

Here Richard Murphy, esteemed political economist and a long-standing member of the Tax Justice Network, reveals the 30 questions they all need to answer.

1. Why did you support Boris Johnson?

2. If you criticise Johnson now why didn’t you when in office?

3. Where do you think the Northern Ireland border should be? What do you suggest the UK should do to protect the rights of the EU to maintain a single market which the UK has agreed to uphold in the Good Friday and Brexit agreements?

4. Do you support the deportation of migrants to Rwanda?

Foreign Secretary and Conservative Party leadership candidate Liz Truss leaves her home (Getty Images)

5. Do you support the imposition of limitations on the human rights of people in the UK?

6. Do you believe it is wrong to be woke? If so, what is it about racial and other equality that you think wrong?

7. Do you wish to repay the UK national debt? If so, why? Who do you think it is owed to? Why do you want to deny those who own that debt the chance to save safely with the Government?

8. How would you propose to make good the shortfall in the money supply that cutting the national debt would create? How would you prevent the recession that might well result from cutting the money supply in this way?

9. Your predecessor said ‘f*** business’. It was apparent he meant it. How would you support business, and most especially the smaller ones that create most new employment in the UK?

Kemi Badenoch makes a speech at House of Lords (Stuart Mitchell)

10. Most smaller businesses have had to withdraw from export markets in Europe because of Brexit. This is now apparent in our trade statistics. How would you restore access to Europe for these businesses?

11. We face a cost of living crisis. Most households will face fuel bills exceeding £3,000 a year from October this year. That is one-third of an old-age pension, and roughly a threefold increase in a year. What would you do to help these families?

12. How would you change the energy tariffs to tackle the cost of living crisis?

13. What would you do to tackle the profiteering that is driving these prices ever upwards?

14. How will you prevent the economic recession higher energy prices are bound to cause by ending discretionary spending by many people and pushing large numbers of small businesses into liquidation as their costs soar, uncontrollably? How will you stop that happening?

15. You say you believe in small government. What does that mean? What would you cut? Why would you cut it? How do you think society can survive without such services?

Tom Tugendhat delivers his first speech of his Conservative Party leadership campaign (Getty Images)

16. What do you have to say about the loss of well-being for those who will no longer enjoy the services you want to cut? How can you justify the resulting inequality?

17. Should abortion be available on demand?

18. Why should the NHS involve a postcode lottery?

19. Our planet’s survival depends on net-zero by 2050 at the latest. We are way behind target. How will you get us on target?

20. Net-zero might involve some unpopular changes, such as reducing meat consumption, cutting holiday flights and reducing carbon car fuel consumption. How will you sell those unpopular policies? What will you offer in their place?

21. Devolution is a live issue. Do you agree that the Union has to be voluntary and that the people of each member nation have the right to stay or leave as they alone would wish?

Suella Braverman arrives in Downing Street to attend the weekly Cabinet meeting (Wiktor Szymanowicz/REX/Shutterstock)

22. Your party has made it very much harder for people to vote and there is no evidence that this was necessary to tackle voter fraud, which was almost non-existent. Do you support this restriction on the franchise, and why?

23. Do you support the retention of an unelected House of Lords, and why? Is that consistent with democracy?

24. Apart from Belarus we are the only country in Europe that uses first past the post elections for our national government. Why do you support a voting system that produces outcomes that do not reflect the will of the people?

25. Covid is not over. 10% of people in hospital have it. Long Covid is a massive issue. Workplaces and schools are being disrupted by it. What measures to tackle it do you support?

26. Will you increase the NHS budget to tackle long Covid? If not, why not?

27. The world is facing a food crisis because of Russian action in Ukraine. What steps should be taken to prevent mass hunger? What role should the UK play in leading this action?

28. What do you most regret about what Boris Johnson did? How would you prevent that happening again?

29. Please publish your tax returns for the last five years and the full accounts of all companies you, or your immediate family, might have had full or partial ownership of or of which you have been a director over the last five years, with a full explanation of your role.

30. What was the naughtiest thing you ever did? Was it as bad as running through a wheat field.

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