United Kingdom: Liz Truss given favorite against Rishi Sunak to replace Boris Johnson

It is placed at the head of the bets.

British Foreign Minister Liz Truss begins the final phase of the Downing Street race by being favored by the bookmakers against the former finance minister Rishi Sunak, whose economic record she is attacking.

The day after their qualification for the final face-to-face, which will be decided by the members of the conservative party and the result announced on September 5, the two candidates presented their projects in the press.

Both believe they are best placed to beat the Labor opposition in the next election in 2024, which the accumulation of scandals under Boris Johnson has placed at the top of the polls.

Polls in favor of Liz Truss

But according to a survey by the YouGov institute published Thursday, Liz Truss would largely win against Rishi Sunak, at 62% against 38% for her rival.

40% of respondents also believe that "one cannot trust" Rishi Sunak.

The former finance minister, however, said Thursday evening that he was in the best position to beat Labor in the next general election.

"If you look at all the polls we have and see what they say, it's pretty clear that I'm the best person to beat (Opposition Leader) Keir Starmer in the next election (scheduled for 'by the end of 2024), "he said on the LBC channel.

In the popular Daily Mail, Liz Truss highlighted her approach "rooted in conservative values" and an immediate drop in the tax burden, which is at its highest "for 70 years".

She thus promises to return to the recent increase in social security contributions, to suspend the tax levied on energy bills to help green energies, as well as an emergency budget.

During a Thursday morning interview on the BBC, she explained that she would have liked 'Boris to continue as Prime Minister', despite the succession of scandals, 'but he no longer had the support' of the party in Parliament .

Sunak, self-proclaimed heir to Thatcher

Marking her difference with her former finance colleague Rishi Sunak, whose departure from the government at the start of the month helped precipitate the fall of Boris Johnson, she stressed that she was not the candidate for economic continuity.

"I was wrong"

Tory leadership contender Liz Truss tells @bbcnickrobinson her views have evolved since campaigning for remain in the Brexit referendum after opponents accuse her of changing her mind too much https://t.co/C8ZG1BL6Nu #R4Today pic.twitter. com/QNHs2Y8ybz

— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) July 21, 2022

“You cannot tax the path to growth,” she argued.

In favor of staying in the European Union in 2016, she felt Thursday morning that she had been "wrong".

Read alsoUnited Kingdom: the umpteenth lie that precipitated the fall of Boris Johnson

In the columns of the Daily Telegraph, which headlines Thursday "Advantage Truss", Rishi Sunak tries to counter the head of diplomacy on the ground of the legacy of Margaret Thatcher.

“My values ​​are Thatcherian, I believe in work, family and integrity”.

“I am a Thatcherite, I compete as a Thatcherite, and I will govern as a Thatcherite,” he insists.

He thus promises “a series of reforms as radical as those which the “Iron Lady” carried out in the 1980s to release growth and prosperity in all corners of the United Kingdom”, and to “seize the freedoms that the Brexit gave us”.