Supporters of Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have traded blows as the race to be the new Tory leader descends into a full-blown civil war.
The former chancellor was attacked for putting up taxes, while the foreign secretary was accused of making “unfunded” spending promises.
Opinion polls suggest Truss holds a commanding lead among Conservative Party members, who will ultimately decide who succeeds Boris Johnson as prime minister.
She has pledged to slash income tax, as well as reverse Sunak’s increases in national insurance and corporation tax if she wins, despite warnings that would cost the public purse £30bn a year.
In a bitter war of words, Sunak said Truss’s proposals would send inflation even higher than it already is and lead to a further hike in interest rates.
Speaking to Talk TV this morning, Truss backer Graham Stuart MP took a swipe at Sunak, whose resignation as chancellor helped to bring about Johnson’s downfall.
He said: “Liz hasn’t spent the last six months preparing a leadership bid - she spent her time absolutely flat out working on her job, keeping the country safe.
“And now that so many of us have come together to support her, she’s got a bold agenda to cut families’ bills, to cut taxes and boost economic growth.
“If we don’t grow the economy and encourage investment - not put a big sign up saying ‘don’t invest here’ by sticking up corporation tax - we’re not going to be able to deliver, whether that’s for schools or hospitals or for defence a security, making sure this country can walk tall on the global stage.”
In a further jibe at Sunak, who has been accused of going along with Treasury “orthodoxy” on how to run the economy, he added: “Liz is an optimist, she believes in building an aspiration nation.
“She doesn’t allow herself to be captured by the departments that she leads, she leads those departments and she challenges them and I think she’ll do a great job as prime minister.”
But Harlow MP Rob Halfon, who is backing Sunak, took a swipe at Truss’s campaign pledges.
He told Sky News: ”[Rishi’s] being responsible about the economy, not making promises that he can’t keep. We’ve got to cut inflation and cut the debt, then we can cut the cost of living and cut taxes in the future.
“You can’t just have unfunded tax cuts because you have to deal with the debt. We have to spend money on the public services, whether it be the NHS, education and many other areas in public life and if we’re again to have a proper education service that needs to be properly resourced.
“If you just have unfunded tax cuts, where is that money going to be for vital public services?”