Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have been making their pitches to become Conservative leader to party members in Perth, Scotland
Both leadership candidates reiterated their opposition to a second Scottish independence referendum
Sunak said it's “barmy” to focus on independence now, while Truss said she would “never, ever let our family be split up”
But an SNP MP accuses them of “hostility to Scottish democracy” and another says they are “obsessed” with Nicola Sturgeon
Whoever wins the Tory leadership will immediately face demands from the SNP for an independence referendum to be held in October next year
The UK will find out its next prime minister in less than three weeks - on 5 September
We're now pausing our live coverage of the Conservative leadership contest.
The writers today were Doug Faulkner, Sam Francis, Laura Gozzi and Catherine Evans.
The page was edited by Alex Therrien and Dulcie Lee.
We'll be back with more coverage of the contest tomorrow. Have a good evening.
Image source, PA MediaWe're soon going to be bringing our live coverage of the Conservative leadership contest to a close for the day.
Earlier this evening, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak faced questions from Scottish Conservative Party members at a hustings in Perth.
Here's a recap of what we learned:
Rishi Sunak
Liz Truss
Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent, reporting from Perth
When the leadership contest was narrowed down to two candidates, it was initially quite hard to find Scottish Tories publicly committed to backing Liz Truss.
But as she grew into the contest and looked more and more of a front-runner, more MSPs joined up.
Those days are now firmly forgotten. She has more supporters in the Scottish Parliament group than her opponent – many of whom gathered behind her for a photo-call before the hustings.
Rishi Sunak was given a warm reception by members in Perth, particularly when he talked tough on the union and referendums.
But it was unquestionably Truss who got the bigger cheers, and she will be hopeful that some members might even be heading home to send in their ballots.
Glenn Campbell
BBC Scotland Political Editor
Liz Truss seems to have clarified her position on relations with the Scottish government.
Having previously said she would ignore First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, she has now said she wants a “constructive relationship” with the Holyrood administration but would ignore calls for another independence referendum.
Truss has specifically ruled out agreeing indyref2 if she becomes prime minister.
Rishi Sunak said he could not imagine the circumstances in which he would agree to another referendum either, describing the SNP’s focus on it as “barmy”.
But he did acknowledge that the Union is based on democracy and consent - in other words that Scottish voters do have a right to choose whether to stay in the UK or leave.
Helen Catt
Political correspondent
Neither candidate seemed keen on Labour's idea of freezing the energy price cap.
Rishi Sunak was clear that he wouldn't do it.
Liz Truss didn't seem to completely rule it out, saying she wouldn't "write the next Chancellor's budget" in the middle of a leadership contest.
However, her language about continuing to "throw money" at the problem made it seem unlikely it's something she'd favour.
And that's it from the hustings in Perth. In a moment we'll bring you a recap of the event and some further analysis.
Truss is asked how she would persuade the SNP government to reconsider its position on fracking.
She says on one side the SNP wants people to have low energy bills, but on the other it does not support anything which could deliver lower bills.
Host Colin Mackay suggests investment in wind power.
Truss replies that the UK cannot "hammer" businesses and people while moving towards its target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible.
She says she would make that case in government.
Liz Truss finishes by saying if she became PM she would appoint a cabinet of "all of the best talents from right across the Conservative Party", including her leadership rival Rishi Sunak.
And with that, Truss thanks the audience and leaves the stage.
We get a preview of tomorrow's Belfast hustings as a Conservative member from Northern Ireland asks how Liz Truss will get Sinn Fein and the DUP into government.
"The answer is yes, but we do need to resolve the issue with the Northern Ireland protocol" as it is currently causing a "feeling of unfairness" between communities in Northern Ireland.
She adds that "we need to create the green and the red channels and make sure that people in Northern Ireland can benefit from the same tax rates as people in the rest of the UK".
Truss says she has already been in talks with the DUP over the protocol.
Truss is asked about how she plans to defeat the SNP in Scotland - a topic which has come up more than any other tonight.
"The way we can take on Nicola Sturgeon is by demonstrating we're delivering as a UK government and pointing out the failings we've seen."
She says there have been failings "from ferries to trains to roads to nuclear power to education," she says, to murmurs of agreement from the audience.
Truss also says she wants to work closely with Douglas Ross and the Scottish Conservatives.
"It can't be just about what the SNP isn't doing, but about what we are doing," she adds.
Truss says that delivering for the Scottish whisky industry is incredibly important.
An audience member asks what her government would do to ensure that people who save are rewarded for "doing the right thing", by receiving higher interest rates when the Bank of England raises rates.
Liz Truss says it is important the Bank of England remains independent but says there is a need for more competition in the financial services industry so customers see the benefit.
Asked about whether she would reinstate the 0.7% of GDP which the UK spends on overseas aid.
Truss says at present it is not affordable but when "we can afford it we will do it".
She says as foreign secretary the government has focused on humanitarian aid - pointing to support for Ukraine and the Horn of Africa.
The government reduced its annual aid budget from 0.7% of gross national income (GNI), which is a measure of the amount produced by the economy, to 0.5% in 2021.
This represents a cut of between about £4bn and £5bn, depending on the size of the economy.
Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent, reporting from Perth
It's not a surprise that both candidates spoke out against an independence referendum; nor is it a surprise that Tory members cheered them for doing so.
Rishi Sunak pushed the point hardest, calling the idea of a fresh vote “bonkers”.
But Liz Truss still got a bigger cheer for her familiar line about the 2014 contest being a “once in a generation” event.
The union is a core issue for Scottish Conservatives, so in many ways this hustings was largely riding on which candidate could make the more compelling case for it.
Liz Truss is asked about whether she would increase the state pension at a lower or higher rate of inflation.
She says she will not "fudge the figures" and is "fully committed to the triple lock which gives the highest figure".
The triple lock sees pensions increase each year in line with whichever of the following is higher:
Truss is asked why she could change her mind over Brexit but the people of Scotland can't change their mind on independence.
She gets a big cheer from the audience when she says she respected the democratic will of the people when they voted to leave the EU.
She says when she voted Remain she was "undecided" and chose to "stick with the status quo" to "avoid disruption".
Since the vote, she says she has "done more than most ministers in the UK government to deliver the opportunities of Brexit".
Liz Truss says Boris Johnson did a "great job" as prime minister.
"He delivered Brexit, he delivered the election, he delivered on the vaccines," she says.
Truss, who didn't quit as foreign secretary during the government mutiny that led to Johnson's downfall, goes on to say "what's done is done" and that he has resigned.
Asked about Johnson being on holiday, she says the outgoing prime minister is entitled to take a break.
Image source, ReutersLiz Truss, who spent part of her childhood in Renfrewshire, is asked if she ever had a Scottish accent.
She says she did have a strong Paisley accent at one time but refuses to give the crowd a taste of it, joking: "I want these people to vote for me!"
Asked directly if she would allow another independence referendum, she says: "If I am elected prime minister I will not allow another independence referendum."
She says the previous independence poll was a "once-in-a-generation" event.
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss want to "abolish the Scottish Parliament", a senior SNP politician has suggested.
Pete Wishart, the SNP's longest-serving MP, tweets, external: "Given their hostility to Scottish democracy why don’t the Tory candidates just say they want to abolish the Scottish Parliament?
"They’d get a huge cheer and it would at least be honest."
An STV viewer asks how Liz Truss's tax cuts will help low-income families below the tax threshold.
Truss says they will help everybody as a growing economy would mean more jobs and opportunities.
She says the country needs to avoid going into the forecast recession.
"I know what difficult economic times look like," she says.
Pressed further, Truss says she does not want to write the next chancellor's Budget now.
She says she believes in appointing competent people to get the job done and not a presidential system.
Liz Truss is up next and is asked about whether she agrees that the energy price cap should be freezed, as Labour and the Lib Dems have called for.
She declines to back the measure, and instead talks about the need to invest in nuclear and renewables to have a "long-term solution" to the problem of energy prices, which is not going to be quickly resolved.
"We can't throw money at the problem without addressing the root cause," Truss says.
"What people are concerned about is energy bills. This is a problem for consumers and for businesses, she says. "What we need to do is deal with the supply issue. We didn't invest in nuclear early enough and haven't done enough to use resources in the North Sea."
An audience member says he was "brought back to life" by the NHS and asks how soon after coming into No 10 Rishi Sunak will start bringing down NHS waiting times.
The former chancellor says that when it works the NHS is a success story.
"I can be trusted with it, I grew up in an NHS family," he says.
He says he brought in a health and social care levy - "something that many of you probably don't actually love" - to put in extra funding because of the backlogs.
The NHS is a unifying institution, he says, adding he will "not be shy" in holding the NHS to account over its failings.
And with that it is Liz Truss's turn.
Image source, Getty Images