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UK is all set to elect it’s new leader on September 5. Liz Truss, who is consistently leading in polls of Conservative Party members, has a 32 percentage point lead over Rishi Sunak. Truss was on 66%, with Sunak on 34%. Tory party members will be able to vote in a ballot which will be open until 5pm on 2 September and the announcement of the leadership contest is due to take place on 5 September 2022.
The race is tough by the day as Sunak is clear to fight it till the end even if it takes to make prior promises if elected as the next PM. To begin with, Sunak plans to introduce a cap on refugee numbers, whereas Liz Truss ,pledged to create a strengthened Bill of Rights to reinforce the legal basis for tackling this issue. More than 14,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK so far this year.
Further, Sunak wants to ensure that the UK is the most innovative economy in the world by producing world class businesses. He believes in reforming the country’s high skill migration visas regime to attract the best and brightest from around the world to come and work in those companies or start those companies, while Truss has stated that she would focus on lowering the tax burden, and hopes to unleash the full potential of a post-Brexit Britain and accelerate plans to make the country a higher-growth, higher-productivity powerhouse. In yet another promise, Sunak has pledged to “keep control of our borders” and wants to crack down on foreign criminals while Truss wants to reform the ECHR to deter illegal immigration but has vowed to make temporary changes to allow more seasonal workers to come in to help struggling sectors in the UK.
Talking about India-UK relations and it’s impact on the UK economy, Sunak wants to make open up the UK-India relationship and make access to UK easier for students and companies from India. “We know the UK-India relationship is important. We represent the living bridge between our two countries,” Sunak said about bilateral ties. He further added, “We are all very aware of the opportunity for the UK to sell things and do things in India, but actually we need to look at that relationship differently because there is an enormous amount that we here in the UK can learn from India. I want to make sure that it’s easy for our students to also travel to India and learn, that it’s also easy for our companies and Indian companies to work together because it’s not just a one-way relationship, it’s a two-way relationship, and that’s the type of change I want to bring.”
The 42-year-old UK-born Indian-origin Tory MP for Richmond in Yorkshire Rishi Sunak vowed to get the country through the “difficult times” of inflation and build a better, safer Britain. Though nothing can be said about the results, but if Sunak had his way, it will be a grim reminder of the fact that the country which once ruled India, might itself be ruled by an Indian!
