“Liz Truss has unequivocally ruled out a second Scottish independence referendum, arguing that the 2014 vote was a “once in a generation” occurrence. Truss, who spent part of her childhood in Scotland, told Conservative party members on Tuesday that she considered herself to be “a child of the union”, as she pledged to deliver policies for the whole of the UK and “work very closely” with Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross to take on the Scottish National party administration. “At the time of the 2014 referendum, it was agreed by the SNP that it was a once-in-a-generation referendum,” she said speaking at hustings held in Perth in central Scotland. “What she [first minister Nicola Sturgeon] should do, rather than agitating for another referendum, is deal with the very real issues in Scotland.” – FT
“Rishi Sunak escalated his attacks on Liz Truss by warning last night that her plans to tackle the cost of living crisis would lead to millions of people being “tipped into destitution”. The former chancellor said that the foreign secretary’s failure to offer people more help with their energy bills would represent a “moral failure” that the public would never forgive. He said her pledge to reverse the rise in national insurance would be worth a “quid a week” to the low-paid and “precisely zero” to pensioners. Truss said she was not prepared to reveal the content of her first budget during the Tory leadership hustings but hinted that she was prepared to offer more support. Her allies accused Sunak of being an “attention seeker”. A campaign source said: “It’s a shame that Sunak has had to stoop this low to get a headline.” – The Times
“Liz Truss has vowed to continue deploying the Royal Navy to tackle Channel migrant crossings if she becomes prime minister, despite plans to hand back control to the Border Force in January next year. The foreign secretary, who is the frontrunner to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister next month, said she would “absolutely” maintain the military’s role in patrolling the English Channel. Speaking on the campaign trail in Elgin, northeast of Inverness, Truss said: “It is an absolute priority to make sure we deal with the issue of small boats and the appalling trade by people traffickers. “And I will use every tool at my disposal, if I am selected as prime minister, to make that happen.” – The Times
“Liz Truss launched an astonishing broadside against British workers, saying they needed “more graft” and suggesting they lacked the “skill and application” of foreign rivals, the Guardian can reveal. In a leaked recording, the then No 2 at the Treasury also risked pitting Londoners against the rest of the country by attempting to explain the difference between the capital and other regions in the UK. Truss, who has put patriotism at the heart of her leadership campaign, suggested the disparity was “partly a mindset or attitude thing”. The comments were made when Truss was the chief secretary to the Treasury, a post she held until 2019. In the recording she intimated that there seemed little desire to change the working culture so that the UK could become more prosperous.” – The Guardian
“Rishi Sunak’s leadership hopes were “riding high” until his wife’s tax affairs were uncovered, findings from focus groups have suggested, as voters warm to the prospect of Liz Truss moving into 10 Downing Street. Focus groups staged by More In Common had Sunak pinned as the next prime minister eight months ago, its director Luke Tryl suggested. They pointed to the furlough scheme as proof of a serious politician and said he seemed “more prime ministerial than the prime minister”. But his approval ratings dived after it emerged that his wife, Akshata Murty, was non-domiciled for tax purposes, which may have saved her millions, and that Sunak retained a United States green card. She has since said she will pay British tax on all her worldwide income. Tryl said “people never mentioned his wealth at all” in December. In a focus group he was described as “very serious” and the “total opposite to Boris [Johnson]”. Truss, on the other hand, was an unknown and those who thought they did know her described her as “a bit of a snake in the grass”. – The Times
“Rwanda puts its citizens under close surveillance and uses political killings to enforce control, according to a British government official reviewing the deal to send migrants to the country. Ministers were told that the level of surveillance was the equivalent of having an informant for every ten households. The state used a combination of party, intelligence and military personnel, which gave it considerable control over its citizens, the Foreign Office official said. The memo from the official was one of the documents relating to the deal that came to light during a High Court hearing yesterday before a full judicial review of the policy starts next month.” – The Times
“Cyclists should be fined for breaking speed limits in residential areas because they are putting people at risk, the transport secretary has said. Grant Shapps said that he wanted to update the Highway Code to make it clear that cyclists should be subject to the same speed limits as cars. He told The Times: “There is definitely a hard core of cyclists who seem to think the laws of the road don’t apply to them. I do think the Highway Code should be updated to recognise speed limits for cyclists. “How can it be right that some people are able to break the speed limit and bomb through red lights? The time has come to have a look at a review and potentially update laws so they apply to cyclists as well.” – The Times
“Members of Sir Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet have been warned once again not to appear on picket lines with rail strikes due later this week. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said solidarity remained between the unions and the Labour leadership, but that support for striking workers should not involve “going on picket lines”. “My focus is on devising policies for an incoming Labour government and to help resolve disputes, rather than to fan the flames as this government seems intent on doing,” she told Talk TV. “I think it doesn’t involve going on picket lines, in my view, but instead working to bring the parties together to get an outcome that is fair to those people who work in the rail sector and elsewhere. But it’s also fair to people who are using and relying on those services.” – The Times
“No 10 is refusing to say whether Boris Johnson will spend his last two weeks as prime minister living at Chequers. This week two removal vans were seen outside Downing Street amid speculation that Johnson could spend his final days in office at his grace-and-favour home in Buckinghamshire. It raises the possibility that he will work from Chequers and make a 90-minute daily commute to London as he tries to secure his legacy with speeches on favoured topics such as levelling up and military support for Ukraine. Johnson has enjoyed a summer of rest as he prepares for life outside No 10. In July he was flown in a loop-the-loop in a Typhoon fighter jet worth £75 million on a visit to an RAF base in Lincolnshire. He then hosted a belated wedding party at Daylesford House in the Cotswolds, a Georgian country estate owned by the Conservative donor Lord Bamford.” – The Times