The Tory leadership hopefuls talk only about tax, not about spending or public investment, writes Sheila Cross, while Val Harrison is fearful for the future of education and the NHS. Plus letters from Frank Coffield and Bernie Evans
Your two-page guide to the positions of the candidates vying to become Conservative party leader in your print edition was very instructive as far as it goes (Form guide to potential prime ministers, 11 July). But while the column on “Tax and spending” refers to their views on tax, there is virtually no information on their policies on public expenditure.
This is hardly surprising, as none of the candidates outline their position on expenditure when interviewed, apart from Nadhim Zahawi’s initial pronouncement on a 20% cut in the running costs of every government department, later clarified to mean to a 20% cut in civil service headcounts, plus occasional references to defence spending.
