The final two candidates, former Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss have now begun touring the country promoting their campaigns. Following the membership vote, the result will be announced on September 5th.

We will have a new leader to progress work on what matters to people: tackling cost of living pressures, addressing climate change, rural levelling up and much more.

#READY4RISHI

I am backing Rishi Sunak, who I’ve got to know well since we were both elected in 2015. I've see first-hand how effective he is; he is a man with honour, integrity, says what he means, and he is realistic about the huge challenges our country is facing and how to put us on the road to recovery. Critically, he understands what we need here in Taunton Deane and the wider Southwest to give people the positive future they deserve, where rural areas need particular focus and where a sustainable environment is an integral part of our lives.

Rishi has demonstrated his competence through the swift actions he took when he was Chancellor, introducing the furlough scheme and other support measures including cuts to business rates that saved countless jobs and businesses – not least in Taunton Deane. He knows how he will tackle cost of living challenges and inflation whilst promoting investment, growth, and innovation; how he will tackle crime and he gets the importance of linking this to tackling climate change and restoring nature to ensure our future sustainability, issues I worked with him on when I was Environment Minister.

Rishi has a sound plan for ultimately reducing taxes but is quite clear that spiralling inflation must be tackled first, although he has already introduced a tax cut for 70% of working people by raising the National Insurance Contributions threshold. Levelling as honestly as possible with the public about the challenges our country faces is vital to restore trust and reunite the country and this is Rishi's approach.