Tory leadership frontrunners are facing mounting pressure to help households tackle the rising cost of living and the “financial timebomb” due to explode this autumn.
The economic response of Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak has emerged as the main battleground in the bid to succeed Boris Johnson as the next prime minister.
This comes as the foreign secretary is drawing heat from the allies of the former chancellor for suggesting there will be no “handouts” and subsequently playing down the comment.
Ms Truss told the Financial Times that she would “look at what more can be done” in the light of warnings from Bank of England about the longest recession since the financial crisis and inflation soaring to over 13 per cent.
She however added: “The way I would do things is in a Conservative way of lowering the tax burden, not giving out handouts.”
Slamming the comment, Mr Sunak said it was “simply wrong to rule out further direct support” for struggling families this winter.
