Boris Johnson finally made the first good decision in his career as Prime Minister last month, when he chose to resign. Although it wasn’t easy, it took many government scandals, copious levels of backlash, and his overall inability to do the job. Now that he sits as a lame-duck PM, many have been left wondering who will be his successor. Truss or Sunak? Either way, unless you’re a right-wing billionaire neither option will benefit you
So let’s narrow down just why Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are like choosing between dumb and dumber, except their actions actually impact thousands of people’s lives.
Rishi Sunak is a whitewashed descendant of immigrants, who in a country where poverty is rapidly rising has a fortune of £730 million. He is the same man who introduced ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ to put money in business owners' pockets while putting regular people’s lives at risk as COVID-19 cases continued to rise. Researchers at Warwick found that the policy was responsible for 8% to 17% of all new infections.
Sunak has previously been perceived as a fan favourite, he was determined to portray a facade in which he was perceived as relatable, and funny when in reality he was just another right-wing Tory billionaire. He is one of the richest MPs, yet he tries to fool us into believing he can understand the working-class people. With Rishi just like with any other Tory, it’s one rule for them and another for us. In April of 2022, it was revealed that Sunak’s wife Akshata Murthy, has non-domicile tax status, in simple terms, she pays no tax in the UK. Yet we all fear the tax man and make nowhere near as much.
If he was to become prime minister, Sunak has made the following promises:
Economy - He has promised “a return to traditional Conservative economic values”
Home Affairs - He is in support of the inhumane Rwanda deportation scheme.
Environment - He wants to set new targets to ensure the UK is energy independent by 2045, and maintain plans to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Considering that since the 2010 Tory coalition government, our economy has done nothing but shrink as our debt continues to increase. So when Sunak promises, “a return to traditional Conservative economic values,” is he promising us more financial problems? Or more money for the rich and less for the poor?
The only thing that on a surface level Sunak seems to be more human about is his take on climate change, while he has supported plans to reach net zero emissions, Liz Truss has expressed her hatred for solar panels.
Now let’s move on to Liz Truss, the very woman who has the ability to make Boris Johnson’s time as Prime Minister seem like one led by bliss and morale. This is a woman who thinks she knows how to solve a cost of living crisis yet she has voted 48 times in favour of cuts to welfare benefits.
In her time as foreign secretary Truss has made several controversial decisions and remarks, some of which led to Russia increasing its nuclear threat level. The Northern Ireland Protocol bill was designed by Truss herself and has risked undermining the Good Friday Agreement while also starting a trade war with the EU.
Earlier this year just weeks after the COP26 climate conference, Truss thought the logical thing to do would be to hire a private plane for a trip to Australia. This flight cost the taxpayer £500,000 and would have burned at least 150 tonnes of fuel and led to 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. Bare in mind regular flights were available. But then again Truss does have links with climate denial-focused organisations.
Most recently, in the midst of an intensifying cost of living crisis Truss decided to publically support energy companies making profits. Her excuse was that “profits” are not “evil”, but let’s be honest, no one thinks making a profit from hard work is evil. The issue is that these energy giants are making a profit through exploitation while their workers bare the brunt of the incoming recession.
The list of questionable things Truss has done or said is extensive, so let’s go onto the promises she’s made:
Economy - Truss has said she would reverse the national insurance rate increase, which is designated for health and social care
Home Affairs - She would try to expand the Rwanda migrant removal scheme to countries such as Turkey.
Culture Wars - Truss is in opposition to moving ahead with self-identification for transgender people.
Environment - She has promised to stop green energy levies but would maintain the 2050 net zero goal.
It’s as though Truss is unaware that the country is about to go into recession, and the health sector is already in crisis. It has been reported that on average it takes 12 hours for a person to be seen at A&E, yet she wants to cut funds for health and social care. Of course, the COVID-19 outbreak put the NHS under pressure but so did years of cuts to funding by the Tories.
Both Truss and Sunak are in support of the horrific Rwanda deportation plan, completely disregarding the risk it will put these asylum seekers under. Rwanda has time and time again come under scrutiny for human rights violations yet our two potential prime ministers believe sending people who are already fleeing war-ridden countries is the best possible solution.
The pair are the epitome of what it means to be a Conservative, they’re rich, ignorant, selfish and devoted to right-wing policies. Although it can be argued, that Truss is more so than Sunak so as to say he is dumb and she is dumber.
Seems like Revolutionary action needs to be in order. Also making profit from the exploitation of workers is quite literally the definition of capitalism. It's definitely more than a single organizational problem.