Tory hopeful Liz Truss rules out new taxes if elected PM

Tory leadership hopeful Liz Truss has ruled out introducing new taxes if she becomes the UK's next prime minister.

She also ruled out energy rationing - unlike her rival Rishi Sunak, who said it should not be taken off the table.

The pair were speaking at the final hustings of the leadership contest, with the winner announced next week.

Later, the foreign secretary hinted she would look at providing further support to businesses and households with soaring energy costs.

Economic questions have dominated the race in recent weeks, amid rising inflation and soaring energy costs for households and firms.

Both candidates have come under pressure to spell out what they would do to help with energy if they replace Boris Johnson in Downing Street.

• Truss 'plans to tackle rising bills with tax cuts'

• Tory leadership candidates compared: Truss v Sunak

• Queen to stay at Balmoral to appoint new PM

Ms Truss, tipped by pollsters as the favourite in the contest, has said she would reverse April's National Insurance rise and temporarily ditch energy levies to help people cope with increased costs.

She has not given details of any further help for households, but said her chancellor would look to "address the issue of household support" in an emergency Budget she would reportedly hold next month.

Speaking at the hustings in London, the last and twelfth of the contest, she said she would "absolutely be looking to act on business energy costs".

Asked if she could pledge not to introduce new taxes if she wins power, she replied: "Yes, no new taxes."

Sunak supporter and former cabinet minister Michael Gove said he was "not opposed" to lower taxes but argued that the people most in need of help would not benefit from tax cuts.

Asked if he would support Ms Truss's Budget if she were to become prime minister, Mr Gove told the BBC's Today programme he would look at the measures but that his "natural instinct" was to support a Conservative prime minister.

In a Sun newspaper article, Ms Truss gave a hint that she would provide support beyond tax cuts pledging to "deliver immediate support to ensure people are not facing unaffordable fuel bills".

She promised to be "robust" but added: "It isn't right to announce my entire plan before I have even won the leadership and got my feet under the table."

Windfall taxes

During the debate, Ms Truss ruled out any new windfall tax on energy firm profits - something demanded by opposition parties to pay for support to help households with bills.

Asked whether he would do the same, Mr Sunak - who introduced such a tax as chancellor in May - did not say whether he would extend it.

But he said it had been "absolutely the right thing" to introduce a windfall tax when he did, saying firms had made billions in profits due to the effect on energy markets of the war in Ukraine.

Asked if he would rule out energy rationing, he replied: "We shouldn't rule anything out, because the challenges that we face with this crisis are significant."

Ms Truss also said she would take action to boost the UK's domestic energy supplies, saying "short-term decisions" had left the UK "dependent on the global energy price".

She also said she would conduct a "full review of our tax system" - including business rates paid by firms and the tax burden on families.

Liz Truss has said she would "put money in people's pockets" by reversing the National Insurance rise and moving the cost of "green levies" from energy bills to general taxation.

But she has been less specific about any additional help above and beyond what the government has already announced for the autumn.

The official line from her campaign is that she has ruled nothing out and will consider the options only if and when she gets to No 10, something she repeats in an article in the Sun today.

When her supporters have been approached to flesh out her thinking, they have not all been steering in the same direction.

Some are primarily advocating a big rise in Universal Credit, others want 'targeted' assistance to go much higher up the income scale.

Whether via a Budget or a smaller "fiscal event", if she wins, she would have to announce her cost-of-living measures before the party conference season gets under way at the end of September.

So we may not have too long to wait until we know more - although for many struggling with their bills, it will be an anxious wait.

Also at the London hustings:

• Ms Truss said the "experiment" in all-lane running smart motorways - which use the hard shoulder as a live traffic lane - "hasn't worked" and she would get rid of them where they are not working

• She also said she was "prepared to look at" introducing advisory speed limits on motorways

• Mr Sunak defended his plan to introduce £10 fines for missed GP appointments, saying it was required to "change the culture in this country so that's not acceptable"

• He also suggested Britons should overcome their "aversion to flat-pack housing" as a potential solution to deliver more homes

Mr Johnson's successor will be announced on Monday, and he or she will then take over as the new occupant in Downing Street the next day.

In a break with tradition, the winner will travel to Balmoral Castle in Scotland to be appointed by the Queen. She has been suffering from mobility issues and it is understood the change was made to prevent the need for any last-minute rearrangements.