Liz Truss is facing criticism over a personal attack on Nicola Sturgeon and a controversial plan to cut public sector pay.
The Tory leadership candidate said the Scottish first minister was an “attention-seeker” who should be ignored on Monday night.
The comments have sparked backlash in Scotland, with the deputy first minister calling them “deeply troubling” and the Scottish Greens saying Ms Truss had shown “total disrepect” to the country’s leader.
In policy news, Ms Truss has vowed to launch a “war on Whitehall waste” – including plans to cut public sector wages outside wealthy southeast England.
Unions have hit out at the proposal, telling Ms Truss to expect “opposition every step of the way” if she becomes prime minister.
It has also been met with anger from Labour, who said it would sound the death knell for the government’s levelling up agenda.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Manchester, said: “If this is a serious policy, we will fight it tooth and nail.”
