'out of touch' rory stewart destroyed in bbc tory leadership debate

BBC caller James from Oxford asked the five Tory leadership candidates to present their plan to "lift the tax burden on the working classes". In response, International Development

Secretary Rory Stewart argued his rivals' promises to cut taxes for the lower paid working class citizens were undeliverable and unrealistic pledges - as he claimed he would instead

use any Brexit dividend to fund public services. But his response cost him to be accused of being "out of touch" and failing to answer the question.  The Tory leadership hopeful

said: “I believe the way that we get everybody back and reunify the country is honest and realistic. “And the thing that slightly depresses me in this debate is everybody I feel is promising

things - they are promising they’re going to get a new deal out of Brussels they’re not going to get, they’re promising to get a no deal through Parliament which they can’t deliver, and

they’re now promising - all of them together - almost £84 billion worth of tax cuts. “I’m going to be very straight with people. I don’t think this is the time to be cutting taxes. “Because

I’m not thinking about promises for the next 15 days, I’m thinking about the next 15 years. “Our country is suffering huge pressures on our public services. “If I can deliver a good, safe,

pragmatic Brexit - and that’s a big if - I would be spending the money not on tax cuts but on investing in our public services.” After every candidate presented his tax plan, the BBC caller

claimed the "only one who talked sense was Jeremy Hunt" as he thanked the Foreign Secretary.  But he added: “And Rory, you’re completely out of touch. “You just did not answer my

question. It’s nothing to do with Brexit, it’s about tax cuts. “But thank you, Jeremy.” Mr Hunt promised to bring taxes down on business to "turbocharge" the economy and allow

growth rates to match America.  He said: “Life is very, very expensive in the south-east of England, in a city like Oxford. “The cost of housing is extortionate. And I absolutely think that

our Conservative mission as Prime Minister will be to reduce the tax burden on the lowest paid. “I said I would like to see everyone in this country be able to earn the first thousand pounds

every month without any income tax or national insurance because that would lighten the load. “The question is how you get there? And the way to do that, the way we can afford those tax

cuts is to turbocharge the economy. “And someone who set up his own business, I think if we can bring down our taxes on business we can get our growth rate up. “We got a growth rate that was

closer to the American growth rate of 3 percent rather than half that which is what we’re on at the moment. “We’d have an extra £20 billion for tax cuts on people on low income for public

services like the NHS that I was lucky enough to be responsible for. “That I think is a vision that brings the country together.”