Conservative Party leadership - live: Sunak and Truss in Birmingham as contest reaches final stages

Five protesters have been kicked out of the Tory leadership hustings in Eastborne.

The protesters shouted “shame on you” at candidate Liz Truss, as well as calling for a “Green New Deal”.

Audience members in the crowd chanted “out, out” as the protesters began their demonstration.

Ms Truss, who described the protesters as “infiltrators”, said: “I will make sure that militant activists such as Extinction Rebellion, are not able to disrupt ordinary people who work hard and do the right thing and go into work.

“I will never ever, ever allow our democracy to be disrupted by unfair protests.”

Grim news came today after it was announced that the country is expected to be launched into a recession by the end of the year, and the next potential Tory leader will no doubt have to have plans in place to curb the affect of this.

Rishi Sunak has campaigned on a policy of beating inflation, but not reducing taxes while this remains high.

He reiterated this once again, saying: “It’s not the tax burden that is causing the recession. That’s simply wrong. What’s causing the recession is inflation. That’s the root of the problems, not just here, but in America and elsewhere.

“So the way we’re gonna get through this first and foremost is gripping inflation.

He added: “What I’m not going to do is embark on a borrowing spree worth tens of billions of pounds, put that on the country’s credit card, ask our kids and our grandkids to pick up the tab because that’s not right. That’s not responsible.”

Liz Truss has come into criticism after appearing to u-turn on a decision to cut pay for public workers such as teachers and nurses outside of London.

The Foreign Minister has taken the stance that the policy was misinterpreated by the media, but she recieved a question from one irrate potential voter who stated that her “misinterpreated” policy was offensive to public workers outside of London and the south east.

Ms Truss said that she took the decision to not proceed with the policy following the reaction, while adding that the policy was not meant to include workers such as teachers, nurses and police officers.

Kay Burley grilled her more, prompting Ms Truss to admit that the policy was a mistake and that she had blamed the media for the backlash rather than owning up to u-turning.

Ms Truss stood strong and stated that the policy was not key to her campaign and was no longer on the cards as a result of the criticism.

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are facing off in the latest debate, as Sky News hosts the two candidates.

The pair will face questions from an audience of Conservative Party members, as well as debate host Kay Burley.

It comes as ballot papers begin to be sent out to around 160,000 party members to choose the next leader and Prime Minister of the UK.

TalkTV has apologised to viewers after announcing that tonight’s debate will be cancelled altogether.

Host Kate McCann fainted in the studio as the debate was ongoing, leading to the event being halted.

It has now been announced that the show will be cancelled and will not return to screens.

The broadcaster said in a statement: “Kate McCann fainted on air tonight and although she is fine, the medical advice was that we shouldn’t continue with the debate.

“We apologise to our viewers and listeners.”

The debate has been put on pause due to a “medical issue”.

A spokesperson for The Sun said: “There was a medical issue, we hope to be back on air soon.”

TalkTV tweeted that there was not a security issues inside the studio, and that Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak were not involved in the medical incident.

The leadership debate has been disrupted due to an incident within the studio.

Liz Truss was providing an answer to a question when a large crash was heard and the transmission was cut.

Arguably one of the most immediate topics affecting people’s lives is the cost-of-living, and Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss were grilled on their plans to curb sprialling prices.

Ms Truss said: “As prime minister I will put money back in people’s pockets from day one, driving growth and delivering opportunities with a new growth plan.

“It’s wrong that we currently have the highest tax burden in this country that we’ve had for 70 years.”

Ms Truss also pledged to support rural communities with levelling-up plans to lower the cost of home-grown food.

Mr Sunak relied on his experience an Chancellor to show voters that he had taken steps already to fix this, adding that “I’ll do more as the situation demands”.

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are facing off in their second public debate.

Hosted by The Sun and TalkTV, the public have been able to send in their questions directly to the candidates.

It comes after Ms Truss’s campaign team accused Mr Sunak of ‘mansplaining’ and speaking over her during last night’s BBC debate.

The debate was rounded off with a quick fire round of questions from host Sophie Raworth.

She asked the two candidates what they would rate Boris Johnson’s time as Prime Minister out of 10.

Ms Truss quickly gave Mr Johnson a seven.

Mr Sunak initally said that Mr Johnson had done a good job until he tripped up.

He then explained that based on getting Brexit done, he would give the soon-to-be former Prime Minister a 10, receiving a round of applause from the audience.

Nadine Dorries made headlines after tweeting about Liz Truss’s thriftiness compared to Rishi Sunak wearing a multi-thousand pound suit.

The two candidates tried to talk down the comments made by the Culture Secretary in which she compared Ms Truss’s £4.50 Claire’s Acssessories earrings to Mr Sunak’s £3,500 designer suit.

BBC Politics Editor Chris Mason pushed the pair for an answer to the question of whether Ms Dorries comments were relevant.

Mr Sunak played down claims that it was representitive of low blows and personal attacks during the contest race, adding that he had the utmost repsect for his fellow candidates throughout the entire process.

Ms Truss echoed his commented when asked if Ms Dorries, who has been supporting her campaign, was right to comment on issues such as fashion to comapre the two.

The debate kicked off with one of the hottest topics on everyone’s mind - the current cost of living crisis.

Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak laid out plans for “long term solutions”, adding that the UK needed more “home grown energy”.

However, Liz Truss pledged to make plans to target the cost of living immediately, including scrapping the rise in National Insurance which was introduced in April.

She said that she would place a “temporary moratorium” on the green energy levy and “take advantage of Brexit opportunities”.

Mr Sunak took issue with Ms Truss’s plans to start paying back Covid debts in the next three years, adding that her plans to cut tax would lead to a further increase in inflation.

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have kicked off their first televised debate amid the run-off contest campaign.

The pair will go head-to-head on topics such as the cost of living as Conservative Party members make their decision.

Mr Sunak and Ms Truss both started the debate by paying tribute to former Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble, who was announced to have died shortly before the debate kicked off.

Tory leadership hopeful Rishi Sunak has agreed to be interviewed by veteran political journalist Andrew Neil, while his rival Liz Truss has so far declined, Channel 4 has said.

The former chancellor will be grilled live at 7.30pm on Friday on the network, where Neil hosts a weekly politics programme having left the BBC and GB News.

In a swipe at his opponent, Mr Sunak tweeted:

Channel 4’s chief content officer Ian Katz tweeted:

The first of the 12 official public hustings organised by the Tory party in the leadership contest has been set for 28 July in Leeds, before Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak tour the UK for questioning.

A hustings for the Conservative Councillors’ Association, organised separately and believed to be taking place behind closed doors, is expected to take place on Thursday.

Conservative members are expected to receive postal ballots by 5 August, with the ballot shutting at 5pm on 2 September ahead of the final announcement.

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have signed up to a Sky News debate after an earlier televised appearance was cancelled in the wake of fiery clashes between the candidates.

The broadcaster secured an hour-long head to head between the final two vying for the Tory leadership to take place on 4 August, and to be hosted by broadcaster Kay Burley.

The pair had earlier declined to take part in a debate Sky scheduled for the wider candidates, forcing the broadcaster to cancel its plans with a day’s notice.

On Wednesday, Mr Sunak tweeted: “Looking forward to it!”

Liz Truss has become the bookies favourite to become the next Prime Minister.

Penny Mordaunt was knocked out of the contest following the final plarimentary vote, leaving Ms Truss and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak left to face the run-off vote.

According to Paddy Power, Ms Truss is favourite to win at 8/15.

Mr Sunak’s odds currently sit at 5/4.

A spokesperson from Paddy Power said: “The Penny has finally dropped for Tory MPs with Mordaunt dropping out of the leadership race this afternoon.

“It seems Liz will earn the Truss of the Tory members and win the keys to Downing Street and it looks like we won’t be seeing Rishi in Number 10 anytime Soon-ak!”

Penny Mordaunt has been eliminated from the leadership contest during the last ballot amongst parliamentary MPs.

Ms Mordaunt’s departure from the contest means that Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss will face off in the final run-off vote.

The vote will take place among Conservative Party members across the UK, with the result expected to be announced on 5 September.

Third round ballot results

Rishi Sunak - 137 (+19)

Liz Truss - 113 (+27)

Eliminated: Penny Mordaunt - 105 (+13)