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world news Diasabra 30 Juli 2022

Economy eclipses other issues in UK Conservative contest

(AP) — Britain’s next prime min- independent think-tank, notes that
ister will take office amid tur- “the candidates have been less forth-
moil: galloping inflation, a war in coming about their intentions for
Ukraine, souring relations with public spending.” They have made
China, a changing climate. little mention of Johnson’s repeated
promises to channel investment into
But not all those issues are getting deprived areas of central and north-
equal attention as Foreign Secretary ern England that lag behind the
Liz Truss and former Treasury chief wealthier south. The IFS said Truss’s
Rishi Sunak vie for the votes of about plans were likely to bring austerity,
180,000 Conservative Party members. because “in the end lower taxes do
One of them will be elected Sept. 5 mean lower spending.”
to replace the scandal-tarnished Boris
Johnson, who stepped down as party Immigration
leader this month. Both candidates have doubled down
on the Johnson government’s con-
With ballots due to be mailed out next troversial plan to send some asylum-
week, polls put Truss in the lead, and seekers arriving in the U.K. on a one-
she won the endorsement on Friday way trip to Rwanda.
of Britain’s respected Defense Secre-
tary Ben Wallace. Under an agreement between the
two countries, the migrants will be
Here is where the candidates stand considered for asylum in the East
on key issues: African nation, rather than the U.K.
The British government says the pol-
Economy icy will deter people-trafficking gangs should remain in the bloc. Russia and china
With Britain facing its tightest cost- who ferry people across the English Both candidates say they will contin-
of-living squeeze for decades amid Channel, but human rights groups Now that Britain has left, both are ue the staunch support for Ukraine
soaring energy prices and 9.4% infla- say it’s immoral, illegal and a waste of keen champions of Brexit. They say that has made Johnson more popular
tion, the economy has unsurprisingly taxpayers’ money. they will seize the economic oppor- in Kyiv than in London. Britain has
dominated the contest — and it’s here tunities provided by Brexit — but given Ukraine 4 billion pounds ($5
where the two candidates differ most. The cross-party House of Commons have not given much detail about billion) in military and humanitarian
Home Affairs Committee conclud- what those are. Both deny that Brexit aid to help it fight Russia’s invasion
Truss is promising immediate tax ed that “the asylum agreement with was responsible for the hours-long and is training Ukrainian troops on
cuts, saying she will scrap a 1.25% Rwanda so far shows no evidence of delays faced by travelers and truckers U.K. soil.
income tax hike introduced by Sunak being the deterrent it is intended to at the port of Dover last week, though
to help fund the nation’s health and be.” Small boats keep crossing the many economists say new barriers to Sunak and Truss promise there will
social care, and will cancel a planned Channel, no one has yet been sent to trade and travel are clearly a factor. be no lessening of Britain’s support if
corporation tax rise. She says she’ll Rwanda, and the policy is being chal- they take over, and both say they will
fund the cuts through borrowing. lenged in the British courts. Truss and Sunak both will push on keep defense spending above the 2%
with a plan to rip up parts of the of GDP recommended by NATO.
Sunak says he would get inflation un- Nonetheless, Truss has suggested she U.K.-EU Brexit treaty governing Truss has pledged to go farther and
der control before trimming taxes, al- could expand the program to other trade with Northern Ireland, a move raise it to 3% by 2030.
though this week he pledged to scrap countries. Sunak says he will keep that has triggered legal action by the
the sales tax on domestic energy bills the Rwanda policy and might cap the EU and could escalate to a trade war. Wallace, the defense secretary, said
for a year. number of refugees admitted to the Truss’s international experience and
U.K. each year. Many Conservatives see Sunak as commitment to military spending
Both claim the moral high ground. softer on the issue, because as Trea- gave her “the edge.”
Truss says hiking taxes amid a cost- Brexit sury chief he was concerned about
of-living crisis is “morally wrong,” When Britain voted on whether to the potential damage to Britain’s Both candidates also are hawkish
while Sunak says “it’s not moral” to leave the European Union in 2016, economy. The less emollient Truss on China, though Truss’s criticism
pass bills on to future generations. Sunak and Truss were on opposite has the support of hardline Conser- is louder. As foreign secretary she
sides. Sunak was a “leave” support- vative Brexiteers, despite her past as a has called for a “network of liberty”
The Institute for Fiscal Studies, an er, while Truss argued that the U.K. “remainer.” to counter China’s growing politi-
cal and economic influence, and she
Climate change opposes Chinese investment in U.K.
Both candidates promise to meet the infrastructure projects like nuclear
British government’s target of reach- power plants.
ing net zero carbon emissions by
2050, but green issues have featured As finance minister, Sunak’s past
little in the campaign. comments on China stressed the im-
portance of maintaining a productive
Sunak has talked of using technology economic relationship. He has hard-
and of building more offshore wind ened his tone, calling China the “big-
farms. Truss says she will remove a gest-long term threat to Britain.” He
“green levy” on energy bills that is says that if elected he will close the 30
used to fund renewable energy proj- Beijing-funded Confucius Institutes
ects, something critics say will slow in Britain.
progress toward net zero.
Beijing is unimpressed by both can-
Greenpeace and other environmental didates’ rhetoric. Chinese Foreign
groups have railed against the lack of Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian this
focus on energy and climate issues week urged British politicians not to
in the campaign, especially as Britain “hype the so-called China threat.”
this month experienced 40 degrees
Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for “Such irresponsible remarks will not
the first time. help solve their own problems,” he
said.