Is Sunak making a comeback? New poll puts Truss just FIVE points ahead

Is Rishi Sunak winning over Tory members? New poll shows that favourite Liz Truss is just FIVE points ahead of the former chancellor in race for No10 as bookies shorten his odds of taking power

• Techne poll put former chancellor is just five points behind Foreign Secretary
• Last party member poll put Ms Truss ahead 62 per cent to 38 per cent 
• Bookies shortened the odds on him winning the leadership race this afternoon

Rishi Sunak’s chances of becoming prime minister may be higher than previously thought after a new poll suggested he is not far behind favourite Liz Truss.

The former chancellor is just five points behind the Foreign Secretary in the race to enter No10 according to analysis of Tory members by Techne, 48 per cent to 43 per cent.

He is also only six points behind among Tory 2019 voters. 

The last analysis of party members a fortnight ago by YouGov gave Ms Truss a 62 per cent to 38 per cent head-to-head lead with members.

Bookies shortened the odds on him winning the leadership race this afternoon as he was also handed a welcome boost by a gaffe by Ms Truss.

She was forced to U-turn on a policy designed to cut Civil Service costs amid fears it would reduce the pay of teachers, nurses and other public workers in poorer areas.

Mr Sunak has also been helped by warmer than expected support at the latest hustings in Devon.

His plans to place economic stability above immediate tax cuts was well received at the University of Exeter last night. 

The former chancellor is just five points behind the Foreign Secretary in the race to enter No10 according to analysis of Tory members by Techne.

The last analysis of party members a fortnight ago by YouGov gave Ms Truss a 62 per cent to 38 per cent head-to-head lead.

Bookies shortened the odds on him winning the leadership race this afternoon as he was also handed a welcome boost by a gaffe by Ms Truss.

William Hill spokesman Tony Kenny, said: ‘Rishi Sunak’s campaign has received a much-needed boost as recent polling suggests things are tightening up in the Tory leadership contest.

‘Liz Truss dominated early proceedings and received the backing of former rival Penny Mordaunt last night but has drifted to 2/9 and doesn’t look as secure as she once was. Sunak, on the other hand, looks to be building momentum and appears to have won over some party members, as a result we have cut him to 7/2.’

Ms Truss U-turned to scrap a major part of a proposed ‘war on Whitehall waste’ today after Tory critics warned it meant cutting the pay of millions of workers and lead to electoral disaster.

The Foreign Secretary announced last night plans to save up to £11billion with major reforms to Civil Service pay and conditions.

Some £8.8billion of savings was to come from axing national pay boards outside the South East and tailoring pay for new starters to reflect local private sector rates.

But in order to save the colossal sum experts said the scheme would have to reduce pay for all public sector workers – including teachers, nurses and soldiers – and not just civil servants. This was denied by Team Truss.

But she reversed the plan today after criticism from Northern Tories and supporters of Rishi Sunak over how it would be seen in the Red Wall seats the party took from Labour at the last election, at a time of growing cost-of-living fears.

Liz Truss today launched a ‘war on Whitehall waste’ as she pledged to slash £11billion per year

Northern MPs Richard Holden and Jacob Young called on Ms Truss to drop the plan

Ben Houchen, the mayor of Tees Valley who is seen as a rising star of the party, said the plan could not be achieved ‘without a massive pay cut for 5.5m people including nurses, police officers and our armed forces outside London’ and warned it was ‘a ticking time bomb set by team Truss that will explode ahead of the next general election’.

He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: ‘It is just a huge mis-step and I’m just pleased that she’s realised it and has back-tracked and has decided that this isn’t going to happen moving forward.’

He added: ‘Is it a moment – I’m not entirely sure, it might be – we might look back in four or five weeks’ time and this could be Liz’s ”dementia tax” moment. It very easily could be, but it’s to be seen.’

He went on: ‘How anybody can deliver a policy of this nature in the eye of the storm of a cost-of-living crisis with energy bills going up, to suggest that those in the North of England should be worse off, just really goes to the heart of the credibility of the Liz Truss campaign.’

Some commentators have drawn comparisons with Theresa May’s proposals in the 2017 election to tackle funding for social care, which were swiftly dubbed a ‘dementia tax’ and were regarded as a key reason for the Conservatives’ poor performance.

Northern MPs Richard Holden and Jacob Young had also called on Ms Truss to drop the plan, while North Dorset’s Simon Hoare told Politics Home: ‘It’s the absolute antithesis of one nation Conservatism, politically suicidal, and economically illiterate.

‘It drives a coach and horses through the levelling-up agenda – it’s just nonsense.’

But a Truss campaign source said: ‘This is all a bit rich coming from Sunak’s backers when they stayed schtum on the steady stream of U-turns from Rishi over the recent weeks. He’s flip-flopped on tax cuts, VAT, grammar schools, China , EU regulations, Northern Ireland protocol and planning to name a few.’ 

A spokeswoman for Ms Truss this morning accused critics of ‘a wilful misrepresentation of our campaign’, before adding: ‘Our hard-working frontline staff are the bedrock of society and there will be no proposal taken forward on regional pay boards for civil servants or public sector workers.’

It came as a new poll suggested her lead over Mr Sunak might be smaller than previously thought.

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