Penny Mordaunt joins Tory leadership fray as candidates pledge tax cuts

Conservative leadership candidates have come out swinging with pledges to slash taxes and plough on with controversial Brexit plans as a new contender joined the fray.

International trade minister Penny Mordaunt announced on Sunday morning that she will run for the top job, saying the UK’s leadership “needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship”.

It means nine Tories have now put themselves forward to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, just days after a collapse in party support forced his resignation.

Former health secretaries Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid have both pledged to slash corporation tax as they announced separate leadership bids.

The contenders’ timescales for the change are different, with Mr Hunt planning to cut the tax to 15p in his first autumn Budget, while Mr Javid would set a “glide path”.

Mr Javid also said the UK should consider ripping up old EU laws “to make us a more pro-business, wealth-creating, entrepreneurial economy”.

Meanwhile, outsider candidate Tom Tugendhat pledged to back the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill if elected leader.

The EU claims the legislation would breach international law but Mr Tugendhat said he would be prepared to argue for it, telling Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “I have fought for my country in combat, I have fought for my country in Parliament, and I will keep fighting for my country.”

Mr Hunt also said he would press on with the Government’s controversial plans to overwrite parts of the post-Brexit treaty.

However, he said he hoped with Mr Johnson out of No 10 the “mood music” of Britain’s relations with the EU might change, and “we could legally negotiate some proper changes to the protocol”.

It comes after two serving Cabinet ministers, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, revealed their intention to run for leader in the space of an hour on Saturday.

In addition to Ms Mordaunt, Mr Hunt, Mr Javid, Mr Zahawi, Mr Shapps and Mr Tugendhat, former chancellor Rishi Sunak, Attorney General Suella Braverman and ex-minister Kemi Badenoch have launched their own bids.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is also widely expected to stand, with the Mail On Sunday reporting she will seek to advocate “classic Conservative principles” and could declare her candidature as soon as Monday.

Candidates populated the Sunday morning broadcast round, with Mr Hunt, Mr Javid, Mr Shapps and Mr Tugendhat all making appearances to promote their bids.

Mr Hunt billed himself as the most “experienced” hand in the leadership contest and announced that his colleague Esther McVey would be deputy prime minister if he were to win.

He told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme that there were “a lot of very angry voters” who had abandoned the party in recent months, adding: “They are not going to come back to us automatically and choosing me will be a very strong signal that the Conservative Party has listened to their anger.”

Also speaking to Sunday Morning, Mr Javid gave an insight into his policy plans in a quickfire quiz with presenter Sophie Raworth.

He said that as Tory leader he would keep to the commitment to get to net zero by 2050 and would not scrap the BBC licence fee.

The former Cabinet minister also said he agreed with the controversial Rwanda migrant policy and said he would not rule out another Scottish independence referendum “forever”, but would not have one “at least for a decade”.

Mr Javid said his tax-cutting plans would cost around £39 billion per year, but this did not include slashing fuel duty further in the short-term, which is also part of his leadership vision.

He said he does not “believe in unfunded tax cuts”, adding: “I will be setting out in the next few days a scorecard which will show exactly how all of that we funded in a sustainable way.”

Mr Javid said he thinks in the current fiscal situation the country can afford to scrap the national insurance hike and still fund the promised boost for the NHS and social care.

But Mr Hunt said he would not reverse the tax rise because “the NHS needs the money” from the health and social care levy.

Mr Shapps advocated for lower taxes, as well as a cut to “red tape”.

The Transport Secretary told Sophy Ridge on Sunday he would introduce the planned 1p income tax cut “immediately” in an emergency Budget.

In addition, he said he wants to “freeze” the proposed increase in corporation tax, pledging: “That is a tax which will not go up.”

Mr Tugendhat emphasised he was a “clean start” candidate.

Asked about whether he would consider cutting corporation tax as prime minister, he told Sophy Ridge pledges by his opponents to do so were “not realistic unless you have a 10-year economic plan”.

Ms Braverman also announced her intention for the UK to pull out of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights.

It comes after the Strasbourg court, which rules on the European Convention on Human Rights, disrupted the UK’s flagship Rwanda policy.

Some Tory MPs had called for Britain to withdraw from the convention, though Justice Secretary Dominic Raab later said the UK “intends to remain a state party”.

Ms Braverman tweeted a message on Sunday afternoon, stating: “The British people should be able to vote for their priorities and expect that the Government can carry them out. This is the definition of taking back control.”

As several candidates set out their plans on their airwaves, more Tories declared their allegiances.

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said she would endorse Ms Truss, MP Michael Fabricant pledged his support for Ms Mordaunt, and Mr Shapps said Environment Secretary George Eustice had given him his backing.