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Truss and Sunak under pressure over worsening cost-of-living crisis

TORY leadership contenders Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss clashed again over the worsening cost-of-living crisis today, as their divided party continued to tear itself apart.

Allies of Ms Truss insisted that she was committed to helping families struggling with soaring bills, despite the Foreign Secretary suggesting at the weekend that there would be no “handouts” if she won the contest to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.

Her comments were “misinterpreted,” according to supporters, who claimed that she was not ruling out further direct support for households this autumn, when annual energy costs are expected to top £3,000. 

Mr Sunak, whose resignation as chancellor in early July helped trigger Mr Johnson’s downfall, launched a fresh attack on his rival’s plan to slash corporation tax, describing it as a “big bung” for already profitable companies.

Ms Truss’s proposal to reverse the 1.25 per cent rise in National Insurance contributions — introduced by Mr Sunak in April despite warnings from trade unions that it would hit workers — “won’t touch the sides” amid soaring inflation, added the MP for Richmond, Yorkshire. 

“We need clear-eyed realism, not starry-eyed boosterism,” he insisted.

Former Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis, a supporter of Ms Truss, defended her approach, saying that she wanted to “put more money in people’s pockets.

“We will look to do whatever we can to help people,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Polls suggest that the South West Norfolk MP is likely to win this summer’s ballot of Tory Party members, whose result is expected on September 5. 

Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves lambasted the two “continuity candidates,” an ongoing PM who “shrugs his shoulders and a Tory Party that's lost control.”

She said: “Only a Labour government can tackle this crisis and deliver the stronger, more-secure economy that Britain needs.”

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