UK Conservative Leadership Hopeful Liz Truss Rules out New Taxes If Elected PM

Foreign Secretary and Conservative leadership hopeful Liz Truss speaks during the final Tory leadership hustings at Wembley Arena, London, on Aug. 31, 2022. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the frontrunner in the Conservative Party leadership race, has claimed there will be no new taxes if she becomes prime minister.

Speaking at the 12th and final leadership hustings held in London, Truss reiterated that her two priorities are to cut taxes and to secure the UK’s energy supply as British households struggle amid soaring energy prices.

She added a third priority would be to support households in the form of a budget or a “fiscal event.”

Asked by LBC radio’s Nick Ferrari whether she would agree to no new taxes as outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson did, Truss said: “Yes, no new taxes.”

Pressed on whether she could rule out energy rationing, she replied: “I do rule that out.”

Conservative leadership hopefuls Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak appear together at the end of the final Tory leadership hustings at Wembley Arena, London, on Aug. 31, 2022. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

In contrast, her rival, former chancellor Rishi Sunak, said he would not rule out energy rationing over the winter and claimed he was “glad” to have put in place the oil and gas profits windfall tax.

He insisted leadership “starts by being straight with the country about the economic challenges”, adding: “I’ve not chosen to say the things that people may want to hear, I’ve said the things I believe our country needs to hear.”

‘Friend or Foe?’

During the hustings, Truss appeared to tone down her rhetoric against French President Emmanuel Macron.

Earlier in the campaign, she said the “jury is out” on whether Macron is a friend or a foe.

Asked if former U.S. President Donald Trump was “friend or foe,” Truss said she would not comment on “future potential presidential runners” before adding: “Both the United States and France are freedom-loving democracies and I will work with both of them, whoever the leader is.”

Pressed about whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping was a foe, Truss said: “I am not going to use the word foe, but what I will say is I am concerned about China’s assertiveness.”

Woke ‘Nonsense’

Gender identity issues were also raised at the meeting, during which Truss was asked if a trans woman is a woman.

She replied: “No. I just said earlier a woman is a woman.

“I believe in treating transgender people with respect, I think that’s important, but we should not confuse that with being clear in our language. Some of the nonsense that has emanated, such as chestfeeding, which we hear from the National Health Service—we’ve got to be talking in language that is clear and people understand across the country.”

The term “chestfeeding“ has been adopted in Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) as part of its effort to use “inclusive” gender-neutral language that excludes the words “female” and “women.”

In 2020, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust became the first UK hospital trust to adopt the terms “breast/chestfeeding” and “human milk” rather than “mother’s milk” for its perinatal services.

According to its inclusive content guidance, the NHS should use “sex or, better still, the body part associated with biological sex when we’re writing about things like screening that is sex-specific, for example, breast and cervical screening.”

Owen Evans and PA Media contributed to this report.