Sunak and Truss: Comparing the credentials of the future Prime Minister

Both candidates are claiming humble beginnings and citing their commitment to hard work as evidence of their ability to deliver success, which will be reflected in their approach to governing. At the start of the campaign Liz Truss seemed to appeal more to Conservative members, with a YouGov poll revealing 54% of those asked stating that she comes across as more likeable, whereas Rishi Sunak regularly polls as more likely to win an election. The most recent YouGov poll carried out for The Times , suggests that 9 out 10 members have made up their minds with 60% opting for Truss compared to 26% for Sunak.

Even former Cabinet Members are privately suggesting that maybe a period in opposition might be helpful to provide a real break from the Boris Johnson administration. Consequently, the real challenge for Conservative members is selecting a candidate who will deliver on some of the promises made to voters in the 2019 manifesto, particularly those in the regions who voted Conservative for the first time. ?

What are their key policy priorities?

Economy

Sunak has committed to delivering fiscal responsibility and only promised future tax cuts once inflation is under control. Truss, by comparison, has floated the idea of an emergency budget by the end of September, where she would reverse the 1.25% rise in national insurance, cancel the planned increase in corporation tax of 25%, and cut ￡150 from energy bills by freezing green levies. All three measures, amounting to ￡30 billion in tax cuts, would be implemented from April, the beginning of the financial year.

Levelling up

Johnson’s flagship policy and part of his legacy are clearly under threat, given the lack of core funding, a genuine strategy, and piecemeal attempts at delivery since 2019. However, both candidates have taken the Northern Research Group pledge card, with Truss indicating she wants to amend the Levelling Up Bill to replace centralised targets with tax cuts and reduce red tape in “opportunity zones”, which make it easier and quicker for developers to build on brownfield land in those areas.

Net zero

Both candidates committed to the Conservative Environment Network Pledge card during the hustings, which means they’ve signed up to the 2050 target. Sunak is seen as a supporter of Net Zero, despite his reluctance to spend Treasury money on climate change initiatives. Truss is seen as more lukewarm on Net Zero as she appeals more to the party's right as a libertarian conservative. However, she has secured the backing of Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (the leading Conservative environmentalist), who claimed that as Foreign Secretary, she recognised the importance of the UK’s international leadership on nature.

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What does this mean for science and technology?

Rishi Sunak

Sunak is pro-tech and has been exceptionally vocal about the importance of artificial intelligence. He has equated it to the likes of revolutionary inventions such as the steam engine and computers and strongly believes that AI has the potential to transform the economic landscape with significant implications for the UK’s productivity, prosperity, and innovation.

In Government, he has been a strong supporter of the policy priority of making the UK a ‘scientific superpower’ and announced a number of investments to support the science and technology sectors as Chancellor, including:

·??????life sciences investment partnership,

·??????UKRI funding (though he pushed back the target of ￡22bn per annum to 2026),

·??????the 2019 manifesto had 2.4% targets for R&D tax credits, but this will only be 1.1% by 2024,

·??????￡900 million in nuclear fusion,

·??????￡400m increase in budget for Innovate UK,

·??????￡800m into ARIA (Advanced Research & Invention Agency, and

·??????￡1.4bn into the science institute at Weybridge.

As a father of two daughters, he claims to be passionate about encouraging more girls to study STEM subjects and recognises the fact that only 8% of engineers are women, a problem that needs to be fixed. ?

Since announcing his candidacy for leader, Sunak has called for greater intervention to prevent Chinese acquisitions of key British assets, including strategically sensitive tech firms and made a commitment to review all UK-Chinese research partnerships that might assist them technologically or have military applications. He could do this using the powers established under the National Security and Investment Act 2021, which allows the government to scrutinise and intervene in certain acquisitions made by anyone, including businesses and investors, that could harm the UK's national security. He has also suggested that he would replace GDPR with a new dynamic data protection regime.

Liz Truss

Truss is evidently passionate about maths and science, which is not surprising given her father’s professional background. Indeed, as Education Minister, Truss drew the political spotlight towards her by pushing STEM subjects. As Secretary of State for Defra, she highlighted that it was science and technology that could increasingly drive the rural economy. She has regularly championed roles for women in STEM throughout her time in Parliament and particularly in her role as Minster for Women and Equalities.

As Secretary of State for International Trade and as Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Truss sought to amplify the Government's commitment to position the UK as a ‘global services and technology hub’ at the centre of the global economy. Indeed, she sought to include technology in key trade deals (Canada & New Zealand) and established the Strategic Futures Forum as part of a trade deal with India to drive closer links in priority areas like tech and security.

As a local MP, she has been supportive of the vision for the Cambridge Norwich Tech Corridor Cluster and highlighted her belief that the use of data and technological developments should be “integrated into everything the Government does.”

Truss has also claimed that she would like to overhaul EU Solvency II rules to allow pension funds to invest in high-tech start-ups.

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Challenges for whoever wins.

1.????Time

It is not on their side, and they won’t have long before the starting gun is fired on the General Election campaign. So, the impetus will really be about hitting the ground running and securing quick policy wins. Truss’ nod to an emergency budget by the end of September shows she is serious about at least attempting to deliver quickly, though quite how much fiscal flexibility she’ll have her opponent knows only too well.

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2.????Party unity

With the campaign becoming ever more vitriolic and both candidates proposing fundamentally different strands of conservatism, there will be a significant task to bring both sides back together to support the new Government and present a united front to the country. Some senior Tories are briefing that this may simply not be possible, but the one thing the Conservatives like more than fighting Labour is winning elections.

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3.????Labour

As both have served under Boris Johnson and Theresa May (Truss also served in Cameron’s Cabinet), it is difficult to see how they can distance themselves from the Conservative record in Government since 2010. This makes it easy for Labour to attack them both for policies ranging from austerity to the pandemic response and everything in between. As we’ve seen, they’re now keen to highlight where they disagreed with the priorities of the Johnson administration but the fact that they supported it until the end is an open goal for Labour.

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So, what do these quick wins look like?

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