Thread by @PaulBrandITV

This is 🔥 again.

Rishi Sunak accuses Liz Truss of £40bn of unfunded tax cuts.

Truss insists she’ll start paying down the debt in 3 years. “I don’t believe this negative declinist language”.

How do they erase these attack lines once one of them becomes PM?

#BBCdebate

“This is scaremongering! This is Project Fear!” says Truss.

“I remember who was on the side of Project Fear in the referendum and it wasn’t me” says Sunak.

“Maybe I’ve learnt from it” replies Truss.

#BBCdebate

Sunak has really come out fighting tonight - real underdog spirit. He is coming across as much more assured in his economic argument, but this was always going to be his strong suit and suspect Conservative members will still like Truss’s talk of tax cuts. #BBCDebate

Rishi needs to be careful about interrupting too much. Never a great look to shout down your opponent too much. #LeadersDebate

“I don’t just talk”, says Liz Truss signalling at Rishi Sunak, “I act”. 🔥

#LeadersDebate

Truss’s more stern demeanour working better for her on foreign affairs, where she takes a tough line on China and Russia.

Both of them trying to take some credit for the response to Ukraine. #LeadershipDebate

Truss on back foot here as she’s asked to justify attacks on Sunak’s wealth. Think his reply that his family came to UK with little, worked hard and helped provide him with opportunities will appeal to Tory members. Truss seemed embarrassed by previous attacks. #LeadershipDebate

Sunak receives a round of applause from audience members - who are *Conservative* voters - for saying he acted out of principle by resigning from Boris Johnson’s govt.

Truss insists she was right to stay in his cabinet but says Boris Johnson now deserves “a well earned break”.

Truss says definitively that Boris Johnson “will not be part of government”. #LeadershipDebate

Applause for Truss as she admits again:

“I might not be the slickest presenter in the business, but I do what I say I will do”. #LeadershipDebate

In a form of questioning I can’t resist taking credit for (copyright an interview with Rebecca Long Bailey in Jan 2021) Liz Truss gives Boris Johnson 7 marks out of 10. Sunak gives him 10 out of 10 for delivering Brexit.