London politics latest LIVE: Liz Truss vows to cut tax ‘on day one’ as she joins leadership race

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iz Truss has vowed to cut “on day one” as she announced taxes her bid for the Tory leadership.

The Foreign Secretary pledged to reverse the controversial national insurance tax hike if made leader.

It means there are now 11 Tories in the running for the top job after Boris Johnson resigned last week. Former health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt, ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak and his successor Nadhim Zahawi have all formally announced leadership bids – though a clear favorite is yet to emerge.

Ms Truss told the Telegraph: “It isn’t right to be putting up taxes now. I would reverse the National Insurance increase that came in during April, make sure we keep corporation tax competitive so we can attract business and investment into Britain, and put the Covid debt on a longer-term footing.”

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Tory leadership candidates ‘will be whittled down to two’ by next Thursday

Bob Blackman, joint-executive secretary of the 1922 Committee, has said the Conservative Party leadership candidates will be whittled down to a final two by next Thursday.

He told Sky News: “We’ve got to slim down the list of candidates pretty quickly down to two.

“And the one thing that we’re committed to do is to achieve getting to two candidates by Thursday 21 July.

“That means that we’ll hold a succession of ballots over the next few days in order to get to that position.”

Ballots are likely to be held this Wednesday and Thursday and next Tuesday and Wednesday, he said.

Mr Blackman also said the newly-elected 1922 Committee is due to meet at around 5pm on Monday to agree the process and timetable for the parliamentary side of the leadership contest, while the party board will meet to determine the timetable and process for the postal ballot of Conservative Party members.

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I can help you win your seat, Shapps tells Tory MPs

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps used a campaign video to deliver a message to Tory MPs nervous about their electoral prospects, telling them: “I can help you win your seat.”

He said: “My case for leadership is simple: I can plan, I can deliver, I can communicate, I can campaign, I can help you win your seat.”

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Threshold for progressing in leadership contest ‘likely to be backing from 20 MPs’

Bob Blackman, joint-executive secretary of the 1922 Committee, said the threshold for support to enter the Conservative Party leadership race is likely to be 20.

He told Sky News: “The view is that candidates to get on the ballot paper should demonstrate a broad swathe of support amongst Conservative MPs.

“So we’re looking at a proposer, a seconder and either 18 supporters or possibly more supporters in order to reduce that list.”

He added: “The first ballot is likely to have a threshold of 10% of the votes, ie 36 MPs, supporting a candidate for them to go through to the second ballot. That once again is not confirmed yet, but I suspect that will be the case.

“After that we probably won’t need thresholds because the list will shorten considerably.”

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Pictured: PM leaves Downing St

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Watch: Nadhim Zahawi announces ambition to be next prime minister

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi announces ambition to be next prime minister

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PM ‘very popular’, says Ukrainian politician

Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, described Boris Johnson as “very popular” in the country, and praised him for being able to “bring Ukraine what we needed at the time the most”.

Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News, Mr Prystaiko said: “I have to say that he was very popular. This just to give you how popular he was: Ukrainians just successfully committed enough money to buy a couple of drones, the Turkish-made drones, through crowdfunding. The next idea is to crowdfund Prime Minister Johnson to (come to) us.”

“As a foreign secretary, he was in Ukraine a couple of times, he knew the nation, he understood the gravity of the situation and he managed to accumulate on it, to get together with this effort and bring Ukraine what we needed at the time the must.”

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Truss: I have a clear vision for Britain

Liz Truss has formally announced her leadership bid with a video on Twitter.

She says: “ I have a clear vision for our country and economy – and the experience and resolve to deliver it.”

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Tories ‘at crossroads’, Baker to say

Former Minister Steve Baker, who is supporting Suella Braverman’s bid for the leadership, will tell Conservatives the party is “at a crossroads”.

At an event to relaunch the Thatcherite Conservative Way Forward group, he is expected to tell activists, MPs and peers they are not there to “squabble about who’s in, out, up or down in Westminster leader boards”.

But instead they must “unite, to think, and to decide our future direction as a party so that we can serve the country”.

“We are at a crossroads for our party and for the country,” he will tell the event in Westminster.

“Across a range of issues, the Conservative Party is in the wrong place and heading in the wrong direction, limiting our country’s potential and risking a Labor government.”

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Hunt: I want to cut all taxes

Tory leadership Jeremy Hunt said he wants to “cut all taxes” and that reducing Government department running costs is “something we should always be looking at”.

The former foreign secretary told BBC Breakfast: “We need to have a lower tax environment to help businesses get off the ground…

“I want to cut all taxes…

“The Treasury’s own numbers say that you’ll get half the money back that you invest in cutting corporation tax because of increased business activity.”

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Politics daily briefing: July 11