Rishi Sunak vs Liz Truss: What time is the Tory leadership debate?

Rishi Sunak vs Liz Truss: What time is the Tory leadership debate tonight, how can I watch – and who’s ahead in the polls? Your guide to the battle to become next Prime Minister

• Read more on MailOnline: Tory members say Liz Truss won last night’s debate 

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will clash on TV for a second time in 24 hours tonight after the first head-to-head debate saw them attack each other’s economic plans.

The Foreign Secretary and the former chancellor will face each other in a TalkTV and Sun event at 6pm tonight, which follows the clash on BBC One last night.

During last night’s programme, Mr Sunak claimed there is ‘nothing Conservative’ about Miss Truss’s approach to cutting taxes and pumping up borrowing, arguing it would give the party ‘absolutely no chance’ of winning the next election.

But Miss Truss in turn suggested that her rival would lead the country into a recession and criticised him for increasing taxes to the ‘highest rate in 70 years’.

Here, MailOnline looks at some of the key details ahead of tonight’s TalkTV debate: 

Candidates Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss at the BBC leadership debate in Stoke-on-Trent yesterday

What time is the Tory leadership debate tonight?

The Conservative leadership debate featuring Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak – officially called ‘The Sun’s Showdown: The Fight for No.10’ – will begin at 6pm tonight.

How can I watch it?

The programme will be shown on all Sun platforms and TalkTV – a channel which is available on Sky 526, Virgin Media 627, Freeview 237, Freesat 217 and Sky Glass 508, live and on demand on the TalkTV app, streaming services and at Talk.TV.

TalkTV’s Political Editor Kate McCann will be hosting the debate alone, although she had been due to be joined by The Sun’s political editor Harry Cole.

Mr Cole was forced to pull out this morning after testing positive for Covid-19, and tweeted: ‘Covid finally got me for the first time with spectacularly bad timing.’

Ms McCann said she was ‘gutted not to be hosting with my partner in crime this evening’ and would miss him, but added: ‘We’ve got a great debate in store’.

Where is tonight’s debate?

The debate will be held at Ealing Broadcast Centre in West London, which was created for Piers Morgan’s nightly show on TalkTV which launched in April. 

Who is organising tonight’s debate?

The Sun and TalkTV, which are both owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, are hosting tonight’s debate in partnership.

Who’s ahead in the polls?

Conservative voters prefer Liz Truss to Rishi Sunak, but share his goal of tackling inflation first before cutting taxes, a YouGov poll for The Times found.

Among Tory supporters, 41 per cent want Miss Truss to be the next party leader compared with 36 per cent for Mr Sunak, according to the survey.

In the survey of 1,692 people, 60 per cent wanted the new PM to prioritise ‘getting inflation under control, even if this meant not cutting taxes’.

Offered a list of words to describe the rival candidates, four out of ten said Mr Sunak was ‘out of touch’. Only one in five said the same about Miss Truss.

Who won last night’s debate?

A YouGov snap poll of 507 Conservative party members who watched last night’s BBC debate showed today that Miss Truss was seen to have won the discussion.

Some 50 per cent said Miss Truss performed better to Mr Sunak’s 39 per cent.

The poll also found Miss Truss (63 per cent) was far more likely to be seen as in touch with ordinary people than Mr Sunak (19 per cent).

She also beats Mr Sunak in being ‘likeable’ (54 per cent vs 35 per cent) and ‘trustworthy’ (51 per cent vs 37 per cent).

But the two candidates are very closely tied on is Brexit, on which 43 per cent say Truss performed best compared to Sunak’s 39 per cent.

When are the next debates?

There will be a further debate on Sky News next week on Thursday, August 4 at 8pm.

People who want to be a member of the live studio audience at the Sky debate – which will be hosted by Kay Burley – can do so by clicking here.

Mr Sunak has agreed to be interviewed by Andrew Neil in a special live programme on Channel 4 on Friday night. Miss Truss is expected to decline the invitation.

The first of 12 official public hustings organised by the Conservative party will take place in Leeds on Thursday, before the two candidates tour the UK for questioning.

Which debates have already happened? 

There have already been three debates – the third was on BBC One last night, the second aired on ITV on July 17 and the first was on Channel 4 on July 15. 

When will we have a new prime minister?

The new prime minister is expected to be announced on Monday, September 5 2022 after the result of the Tory leadership contest vote is given.

The result will be announced by Sir Graham Brady, who is the chair of the 1922 Committee – and the winner is likely to become prime minister the next day.

This would be September 6 – and will take place after Boris Johnson officially informs the Queen that he will resign. The new leader will then also meet the Queen who will ask he or she to form a government.

It is possible that the winner could be announced sooner, although this would only happen if one candidate dropped out.

What are Sunak and Truss’ key policies?

The key difference between the pair is tax, with Miss Truss pledging large tax cuts of more than £30billion but Mr Sunak advocating prudence with the nation’s finances.

Mr Sunak announced hikes to corporation tax and national insurance before quitting as chancellor and has stuck to this plan, promising he will eventually cut tax.

He argues that the amount of tax the Government collects needs to rise before it falls. Only ‘once we’ve gripped inflation’ will taxes come down, he has said.

While Mr Sunak has held firm over corporation tax and national insurance increases, Miss Truss has vowed to cut these back.

National insurance would be one of her first priorities in Number 10, followed by a cancellation in the corporation tax increase – scheduled for next year – and cuts to green levies on energy bills.

While Mr Sunak’s plans would see the UK return to a corporation tax level it last saw in 2011, Ms Truss would keep the levels that came into force in 2017, under then prime minister Theresa May – one of the lowest rates in the developed world.

It will cost about £17billion a year if the rise is cancelled, but Ms Truss argues that it would encourage investment, so the cost would be lower.

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