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

The Tory leadership debate on Sky News planned for Tuesday night has been cancelled after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss indicated they did not want to take part, the broadcaster said.

Penny Mordaunt has defended her views on gender identity after fellow candidates criticised her position.

Suella Braverman, who dropped out in round two, was openly critical of her views.

Ms Mordaunt clarified that while she respected the status of trans women, she recognised that trans women are not the same as biological women.

Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch questioned Mr Mordaunt’s previous work as an equalities minister which saw plans drawn up for self-ID schemes, with Ms Badenoch pointing the finger at Ms Mordaunt for the policy being tabled.

The debate kicked off with a line of questioning on the erosion of trust in politics following the scandals that hit the end of Boris Johnson’s premiership.

While the candidates attempted to convince the audience why they were trustworthy, the most noteworthy moment of the round came when presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy asked if Boris Johnson was an honest person.

While Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss skirted around giving a solid answer to the question, Kemi Badenoch replied “sometimes”.

However, Tom Tugendhat seperated himself from the group by plainly replying: “No.”

The first live TV debate has kicked off for our remaining candidates.

Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat and Liz Truss are currently appearing on Channel 4, where they face questions from floating voters on key issues such as trust in politics, taxation plans and the cost of living crisis.

Liz Truss has vowed to cancel the planned hike in corporation tax if elected leader of the Tory party.

The plans for the tax increase would see the rate increase from 19% to 25%.

The Foreign Secretary told of her plans during a virtual hustings for the ConservativeHome website.

Ms Truss said: “We immediately need to start putting money back into people’s pockets, we know families are struggling to make ends meet at the moment.

“I would reverse the national insurance rise, I opposed it in Cabinet at the time because I thought it was a mistake, I think it’s even more of a mistake now when we’re facing such strong economic headwinds.

“I would also have a temporary moratorium on the green energy level to cut £153 from people’s energy bills.

“And I would also not do the corporation tax hikes because I think it’s vitally important that we’re attracting investment into our country.”

Transport minister Wendy Morton has denied that the team behind Liz Truss’s leadership bid is involved in a so-called “black ops” campaign against rival Penny Mordaunt.

Ms Morton said she is “absolutely not” involved in any kind of untoward campaign.

Speaking on Times Radio, she said: ““What I am involved in is a campaign to get Liz Truss elected as the next leader of the Conservative Party because I happen to think, I know, that she’s the right candidate.

“I worked with her at the Foreign Office and I saw first-hand how hard-working she is, how dedicated she is, and how she just gets on with the job and she delivers.”

Ms Morton added that the Truss camp is not concerned about the lead Ms Mordaunt has maintained against the Foreign Secretary, after she outpolled Ms Truss in the two ballots of Tory MPs.

She said: “You know, we have still got rounds of voting to go, there are still candidates, there are colleagues out there who have not declared for a candidate, there are colleagues who have voted for candidates who have now dropped out of the race. So it’s all to play for.”

Tory MP Richard Holden, a backer of Rishi Sunak for Conservative leader, has said it was “total nonsense” to suggest the former Chancellor was a “socialist”.

Mr Holden also rejected the suggestion that Mr Sunak’s wealth made him unrelenting, saying that the furlough scheme introduced during the pandemic proved he had a “track record” of helping ordinary voters.

He told Sky News: “Whether it’s Rishi Sunak, who’s wealthier than many of my constituents or Keir Starmer, who is far wealthier than many of my constituents could ever dream to be either, what people I think are really interested in is who’s best for them and who’s going run the country.”

His comments come after Boris Johnson’s remaining loyalists in the Conservative Party increased their attacks on Mr Sunak in recent days, accusing him of presiding over tax hikes.

Dame Maria Miller, a Penny Mordaunt backer, said questions over transgender rights and identity should not be part of the “political fray”.

Ms Mordaunt, who is still outpolling Liz Truss after two ballots of Tory MPs, has borne the brunt of attacks from allies of the Foreign Secretary - most notably former Brexit minister Lord Frost, who described her as being “absent on parade” when he worked with her on post-Brexit negotiations last year.

Dame Maria rejected the criticism, telling Sky News Lord Frost was wrong about Ms Mordaunt.

She said: “I have seen her to be a very effective campaigner. She really is one of the leading proponents of Brexit and was throughout the campaign.”

Dame Maria added that Ms Mordaunt had not changed her position on trans rights during the leadership campaign, saying: “I don’t think this really – just something so fundamental to some people’s lives, and so sensitive – is really something that is appropriate for a leadership battle. It should be outside of politics.

Suella Braverman has criticised Penny Mordaunt, who is currently bookies favourite to win the leadership contest.

The Attorney General refused to throw her backing behind another contender in the race after being knocked out in the second round of the contest.

Instead, she has been vocally critical of Ms Mordaunt’s stance of “gender ideology”, saying: “Penny is a very good politician, I disagree with Penny on some key issues, in relation to one specific matter, i.e. the maternity Bill that was passed for my benefit when I had my baby last year.

“I do have to say that Hansard and the record shows that Penny Mordaunt as the Bill minister, the minister responsible for passing that legislation, did oppose and did resist the inclusion of the word woman and the word mother and did only concede after unsustainable pressure from the House of Lords.

“I was quite disappointed by the way in which it was handled and the responsible minister I’m afraid didn’t stand up for women and didn’t actually reflect the views of a lot of our party on wanting women to be authentically represented on the face of the Bill and in legislation.”

Ms Braverman added: “My perception of Penny is she takes a different view to me when it comes to gender ideology and the position of trans, for example, I think she said a trans woman is a woman, I disagree with that.”

Following the second round of voting, Penny Mordaunt is the bookies favourite to win the leadership contest.

Despite placing second in the first two rounds of voting, Ms Mordaunt has made considerable strides in her campaign and gained the support of many MPs within the party.

Rishi Sunak is second favourite to become the next Prime Minister, while Liz Truss rounds out the top three.

Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said that he is “incredibly grateful” to his colleagues after he topped the Tory leadership ballot for the second time.

Mr Sunak is the frontrunner in the race after winning 101 votes in the second ballot.

He said: “I am incredibly grateful for the continued support from my colleagues and the wider public.

“I am prepared to give everything I have in service to our nation.

“Together we can restore trust, rebuild our economy and reunite the country.”

Tom Tugendhat has signalled his intention to continue in the Tory leadership contest despite appearing to lose support in the second ballot.

The MP for Tonbridge and Malling gained 32 votes in the second round which meant he passed the threshold to move onto the next round, but he did see his vote share drop from 37 in the first round.

He placed second bottom, only above Suella Braverman who failed to progress to the next round.

However, Mr Tugendhat has so far resisted calls to volutnarily drop out, tweeting after the second ballot results were announced: “The campaign for #ACleanStart continues.

“Thank you to all my friends and colleagues who have pledged their support.

“We need trust back in our politics. I will be putting my vision for Britain forward to the public at the TV debates next week.”

Suella Braverman has dropped out of the Tory leadership race after the results of the second ballot were revealed.

The Atorney General gained only 27 votes in the second round of voting, with her support shrinking from the first round.

Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt continue to lead the pack while Liz Truss is slowly gaining some support, placing third.

Tom Tugendhat has made it through to the third round, although his votes have shrunk.

Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch has gained a further nine votes in her campaign.

Allies of Liz Truss have urged Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch to abandon their leadership bids to help boost support for the Foreign Secretary.

A senior Truss supporter said there was a need to “unite the right”.

Backers of Ms Braverman and Ms Badenoch should “recognise the reality of the situation”, the source said.

Liz Truss, quizzed on why she had not quit Boris Johnson’s Cabinet, said that she was a “loyalist”.

“I am a loyal person. I am loyal to Boris Johnson. I supported our Prime Minister’s aspirations.”

However, while she promised to continue the Government’s levelling-up ambitions, she also pledge a change of tack on the economy and to reverse the planned rise in national insurance.

Ms Truss dodged questions about worries she could be outflanked by rival Penny Mordaunt, instead stressing the wide array of talent the leadership contest is displaying.

Lord Frost said he has “grave reservations” as to whether Penny Mordaunt is up to the job of prime minister.

Former Brexit minister Lord Frost has launched a scathing attack on Tory leadership contender Penny Mordaunt, saying she was not up to the job when she was his deputy in talks with the EU.

Speaking on TalkTV, Lord Frost said she lacked a grasp of the detail, was unwilling to deliver tough messages to Brussels, and that he had had to ask Boris Johnson to replace her.

The second round of voting by Tory MPs takes place between 11.30am and 1.30pm, with a result announced at 3pm.