Image source, PA Media

Tory leadership contender Rishi Sunak is today reiterating his opposition to a second Scottish independence referendum (often referred to as indyref2), saying the UK is the "most successful political union in history".

Sunak and his rival Liz Truss have both spoken out against the idea of holding another vote.

In response, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has set out a provisional date for indyref2 of 19 October 2023, last week branded the two hopefuls "hypocrites".

In a column for the Scottish Daily Mail today, Sunak accused the SNP of trying to "tear the country apart, when we should be pulling together".

"I am clear that another referendum is the wrong priority at the worst possible moment," he writes.

He adds that the UK government cannot "just stop a referendum, we also need to drive down support for independence, too".

The former chancellor suggests that Westminster should put an end to the "devolve and forget mentality" and instead become "the most active UK government since devolution began" by investing more funding directly into local communities.

Image source, Getty Images

A rare moment of consensus between Truss and Sunak last night was on the subject of rail strikes.

Both said they would clamp down on such industrial action if they became prime minister.

The pledges come ahead of further walkouts by the RMT union planned for tomorrow, Saturday and in August - as a protest over pay, conditions and job cuts.

The government has today attacked the RMT, saying it's "hell-bent on creating further misery for passengers across the UK", and accusing the union of disrupting the start of the Commonwealth Games.

Rail strikes: When are they and which trains are running?

Image source, Reuters/Simon Dawson

The campaign teams for Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss need "to be mindful of tone" and have a debate that's "respectful and dignified", Conservative MP Amanda Milling has told the BBC.

Milling, who is the foreign minister for Asia and the Middle East, says "this divisiveness doesn't help" the Conservative Party and it will need to unite in September once there is a winner.

She wouldn't reveal which candidate she's supporting in the contest but called for a "clean, fair and respectful debate".

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Whether it is Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, the next prime minister will have to deal with a tough economic picture.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that the UK is set for the slowest growth of the G7 richest economies next year.

The next Tory leader, and PM, will be inheriting an economy with a much slower growth rate than what was forecast in April.

The IMF is predicting that UK growth will fall to just 0.5% in 2023, much lower than its forecast in April of 1.2%.

The global economy has shrunk for the first time since 2020, the IMF said, hit by the Ukraine war and Covid.

With growth stalling in the UK, US, China and Europe, the world "may soon be teetering on the edge of a global recession", it said.

Read more here.

David Wallace Lockhart
BBC political correspondent

Image source, AFP

Turning away from the leadership campaign for the moment, for a story involving the current prime minister.

Boris Johnson has said that no government business was discussed when he met Russian oligarch and ex-KGB agent Alexander Lebedev, without officials present, in 2018.

Johnson was foreign secretary at the time.

In a letter to parliament's liaison committee, the PM confirms he attended a "social event" at the Italian house of newspaper owner Evgeny Lebedev in April 2018. He says he met with Evgeny’s father Alexander at the same event, and that the meeting was not "formal" or "pre-arranged".

The PM says in his letter:

He maintains that there was no need to pass any information back to the Foreign Office.

Johnson has previously been criticised for not having security with him on this trip, but in the letter he insists it would "not have been normal" to have protection or civil servants at a "private, social occasion". He adds that he did not have government papers with him.

Johnson was asked to provide further written answers on a number of questions after an appearance in front of senior MPs on the liaison committee earlier this month.

In his letter, Johnson stresses that he took firm action against Russia at points when he was foreign secretary, including after the Salisbury poisonings.

Image source, Jeff Overs/BBC

As we've been reporting it's Liz Truss's 47th birthday today and, as a birthday treat, she will be taking part in another televised debate later.

Truss and her rival Rishi Sunak are set to face each other at 18:00, in a discussion hosted by The Sun and TalkTV and filmed in London.

The pair will again be given an hour to make their case to Conservative members, who are the only people eligible to pick the party's new leader.

A snap poll of Conservative Party members who watched the BBC debate has found that Liz Truss performed better than her counterpart Rishi Sunak in the members' view.

The YouGov poll of 507 Tory members found 50% thought Truss performed best, compared to 39% for Sunak and 10% who didn't know.

Image source, .

Truss was also seen as being more in touch, likeable and trustworthy than her rival by those surveyed. Sunak was just ahead of Truss in the "prime ministerial" category.

The foreign secretary outperformed Sunak on all issues covered in the debate, the poll found, particularly on Ukraine, cost of living and levelling up.

Image source, .

Overnight figures show that 3.53m people switched on to watch Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak in last night’s TV debate.

They had a 22.1% share of the audience, higher than any other channel, with Love Island on ITV2 coming second with 2.32m people watching.

The 60-minute prime-time programme on BBC One was up on the second ITV debate when there were five Tory candidates left. That programme a week ago had an audience of 2.7 million. Both of these were considerably down on 2019’s Johnson v Corbyn: The ITV Debate, which had an average audience of 6.7 million viewers, peaking at 7.3 million. This was ahead of a general election - so many more people got to vote.

Further TV debates with see Sunak and Truss on Talk TV from 18:00 BST today and then on Sky News a week on Thursday, although these channels have smaller audiences than the BBC and ITV.

Thank you for your questionspublished at 13:46 British Summer Time 26 July 2022

13:46 BST 26 July 2022

That's all for our Q&A on the leadership contest and last night's TV debate.

Thanks to everyone who sent in questions and thanks also to our political correspondent David Wallace Lockhart for providing his insight and answering your questions.

And what about climate change?published at 13:40 British Summer Time 26 July 2022

13:40 BST 26 July 2022

David Wallace Lockhart
BBC political correspondent

Image source, PA Media

Our final question comes from Hannah Stanton, who asks what Sunak and Truss will do to reflect public concern about climate change? Hannah says some polls suggest the majority of the population want stronger policies on climate change amid the recent heatwave.

When it comes to green levies (the part of our energy bills that help to pay for environmental projects) Liz Truss wants them suspended while tariffs are so high.

Though she's stressing that she still considers herself a green politician, describing her past as a "teenage eco-warrior" in last night's debate. She believes there has to be less waste and improved technology to help achieve climate goals.

Rishi Sunak's campaign says onshore wind farms can cause "distress and disruption", and he doesn't want to go ahead with plans to make it easier to build them.

He wants to focus on offshore turbines, and in doing so he's still confident the UK can get to net zero (where it doesn't add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere) by 2050.

How will they deal with the NHS waiting list?published at 13:30 British Summer Time 26 July 2022

13:30 BST 26 July 2022

David Wallace Lockhart
BBC political correspondent

Brian Buckley asks how the candidates will tackle the NHS backlog in England and if tax cuts are introduced, how will the government pay for the NHS and social care?

The next prime minister won't be short of problems to deal with, and this will have to be near the top of their in-tray.

Rishi Sunak has labelled the situation a "national emergency", and has promised a "Backlogs Taskforce" - run along the same lines as the vaccine rollout during the pandemic - to do whatever it takes to reduce waiting times.

Liz Truss hasn’t gone into the same level of detail when it comes to the NHS. She wants to reverse increases to national insurance that came into force in April, introduced to help raise an extra £12bn a year for health and social care.

Truss argues there's headroom in the finances that means the health service can still have the necessary funding without the tax rise.

What about Scotland?published at 13:22 British Summer Time 26 July 2022

13:22 BST 26 July 2022

Colin, from Dunfermline in Scotland, asks why there has not been much discussion on Scotland given that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is preparing for an independence referendum?

It didn't come up in last night's debate, but we've previously heard from both candidates on the issue of a second independence referendum.

Both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak say there shouldn't be another vote any time soon.

The 2014 Scottish referendum took place via an agreement between the UK and Scottish governments. That looks unlikely to happen regardless of who enters No 10 Downing Street next month.

But the issue isn't going away - the Supreme Court is to consider whether or not the Scottish Parliament can hold a referendum without UK government involvement.

Should Sunak take responsibility for the state of the economy?published at 13:14 British Summer Time 26 July 2022

13:14 BST 26 July 2022

Ian Thirkill from Derby asks...

David Wallace Lockhart
BBC political correspondent

The economy has been the defining issue of this debate so far, and both candidates have very different ideas about how to improve it.

Sunak is sticking with the policies he was implementing as chancellor (a position he resigned from just a few weeks ago).

He argues that the country is still dealing with the fallout from the pandemic, and various global factors such as the war in Ukraine.

Sunak believes that if inflation can be managed then tax cuts can be introduced later.

Truss has made no secret of the fact that she's unimpressed with how Rishi Sunak has overseen the economy.

But the foreign secretary has been a senior government minister since 2014 (including a stint in the Treasury). She's now very critical of government economic policy from the last two decades.

She wants to immediately reverse national insurance increases and scrap a planned rise in corporation tax. Her argument is that this will stimulate growth.

We're often told that politicians are all the same, but here are two very different fiscal approaches for Conservative members to decide between.

What will they do to consolidate the UK's foreign policy?published at 13:08 British Summer Time 26 July 2022

13:08 BST 26 July 2022

David Wallace Lockhart
BBC political correspondent

Ashok Kumar Joshi from Slough, England, asks why Sunak and Truss have not mentioned their vision for the UK's foreign policy in Europe, Asia and Latin America?

Foreign policy did raise its head in last night's debate. When it came to Ukraine, both candidates indicated they would stick with current government policy.

There was opposition to the idea of deploying UK troops in the region, but we can expect support for Ukraine to continue whoever takes over as prime minister.

The candidates clashed when it came to China, with both accusing the other of being too warm towards Beijing at points in the past.

Liz Truss went as far as saying the UK should be "cracking down" on some Chinese-owned companies, like the social media giant TikTok.

When it comes to Europe, both candidates are intending to push on with legislation to change the Northern Ireland Protocol (an important part of the UK's post-Brexit relationship with the EU).

This is unlikely to help improve relations with Brussels, which are not in a great place at the moment.

Would they serve in each other's cabinets?published at 12:57 British Summer Time 26 July 2022

12:57 BST 26 July 2022

David Wallace Lockhart
BBC political correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Our next question comes from Gordon Brook, in Gosport, England. Gordon asks whether Sunak and Truss would abandon their diametrically opposing views to serve in the successful candidate's government?

There can only be one winner, but both candidates did seem to indicate they would happily have their opponent as part of their top team.

That can be an essential part of a party's healing process after a bruising leadership contest - it encourages all sides to come together and put the competition behind them.

But you're right to point out that Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have fundamentally different views regarding how the economy should be run.

She says his plans will lead to recession, he says her plans will compound inflation (resulting in further price rises).

Only one of them can implement their plans. If the loser decides to serve in the winner's cabinet, they'll then have to defend the policies they recently slammed.

That's not impossible, but it could make for some awkward moments.

What does the cost of their clothes have to do with the debate?published at 12:50 British Summer Time 26 July 2022

12:50 BST 26 July 2022

David Wallace Lockhart
BBC political correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Our first question comes from Marie Glendinning, who lives in Bonnyrigg, Scotland. She asks why Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss kept interrupting each other, and what the cost of their clothing has to do with the leadership contest?

There certainly was a bit more interrupting than many people expected, but that's always a risk in political debates.

The clothes issue came up after a tweet by the Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries (who's backing Liz Truss) questioned the cost of the suits Rishi Sunak wears.

While the substance may have been about outfits, it raises a very important issue for the Conservative Party: Are these internal (and sometimes personal) arguments tearing the party apart?

That's a question a number of Conservative MPs have raised, and last night's debate - which got heated at points - may not have done much to reassure them.

Your Tory leadership questions answeredpublished at 12:44 British Summer Time 26 July 2022

12:44 BST 26 July 2022

Thanks for all your great questions on last night's Conservative Party leadership debate and the wider contest between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.

Our political correspondent David Wallace Lockhart is in the heart of Westminster and will soon be answering a selection of queries we've received.

Stay with us as we bring you his answers.

Image source, .

Chris Curtis from Opinium - the organisation who carried out the snap poll of over 1,000 regular voters, external after last night's debate that we reported on earlier - has been speaking to the BBC.

Curtis says Rishi Sunak has been behind Liz Truss "by quite some distance" in polls among Conservative Party members.

He says Sunak really needed a strong performance last night to make up for the "quite large deficit" but Opinium's polling data shows "it doesn't look like he managed to do that".

Curtis also says polls show most UK voters think the cost of living crisis is the most important issue the country faces right now.

He says "it is still surprising" the cost of living hasn't dominated the debates "given how important it is to voters across the country".

David Brown
Visual Journalism Team

Liz Truss's chances of becoming the next Tory leader have strengthened, according to betting odds.

Here's how the race looks now:

Image source, .

Truss's chances rose as Rishi Sunak's fell in the hours following last night's TV debate.

Sunak led the betting in the days following Boris Johnson's resignation, but Truss appears to have opened up a commanding lead.

Image source, PA Media

Reaction is still coming in after last night's leadership debate, with cabinet minister Robert Buckland the latest Tory MP to defend the sometimes testy exchanges.

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss clashed on the BBC after a weekend that saw allies of the two Tory leadership hopefuls trade increasingly personal attacks.

Speaking to reporters this morning, Buckland, who is backing Sunak to become the party's next leader, defended the need for "robust debate" in the contest, adding that it's "refreshing".

The Secretary of State for Wales said: "There's this balance to be struck between having a vigorous debate and being sort of almost too polite to each other.

"I think it's inevitable that you're going to have candidates disagreeing, and frankly, we need to hear what the arguments are."