Rishi Sunak has visited Carlisle while on the campaign trail to become the next Prime Minister.
The former Chancellor of the Exchequer visited to The Auctioneer in Carlisle’s Rosehill Industrial Estate, meeting Conservative Party members including city councillors.
Boris Johnson is set to step down as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party in autumn and Mr Sunak is up against Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for the role.
The candidates are currently looking to drum up support before party members vote on who their next leader should be in September.
Mr Sunak told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that this selection battle has been a good thing for the Conservative Party. “I think it’s always good to have a debate about ideas.”
He said that in the candidates who made it to the final five “there’s a clear, different set of offers. Liz Truss was saying she didn’t think there should be any further direct support, I don’t think that’s right.”
Mr Sunak said that energy bills will continue to rise and more needs to be done to support vulnerable people.
Ms Truss’ campaign team has played down claims that she has made a U-turn on the cost of living support payments.
The current cabinet minister has recently set out plans to scrap the increase in National Insurance which was introduced to fund NHS reforms.
But Mr Sunak said: “Cutting the social care levy is not going to help (vulnerable people) at all, it’s not really going to help them with the increase in bills. I would provide more support for people over the winter.”
When asked, Mr Sunak said that he would bring a change of pace to Government, not just continuity from Mr Johnson’s leadership.
“I’ll represent a different approach, I want to have a Government with integrity at it’s heart, that’s important to me.”
Mr Sunak pledged to move forward “differently and boldly. Whether that’s reforming our tax system, whether it’s actually reforming the NHS so that we get more efficiency out of it. On these things I want to be radical I want to do things differently.”
The former treasury boss believes he can resonate in the North: “You’ve got people like Ben Houchen (mayor of Teeside) who endorsed me because he actually thinks I can win in places like that.”
