Some things you might not know about Tory leadership candidates
There are now just two candidates to be leader of the Tories and the next Prime Minister. Here’s what they stand for.
Theresa May
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As Home Secretary, Theresa May led the charge to scrap the Human Rights Act.It was the Human Rights Act which enabled people to go to court to challenge the Tories’ grossly unfair Bedroom Tax.
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On taking office as Home Secretary, Theresa May scrapped a legal requirement on public bodies to work to address social and economic inequality. She labelled the law “ridiculous”.
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Since her leadership bid kicked off, Theresa May has said she’ll prioritise spending £205bn on Trident.She said: “the House of Commons should, before the summer recess, vote on Britain’s next-generation nuclear deterrent – and we should get on with getting it built.”
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Theresa May refused to rule out mass-deportation of EU citizens living in the UK. When challenged to guarantee that EU citizens living in the UK can stay here following Brexit, Theresa May said only that this would be “part of the negotiation”. The Tories also abstained on a motion, supported by the SNP, calling on the UK Government to commit that “EU nationals currently living in the UK shall have the right to remain.” The motion passed by 245 votes to two.
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Theresa May was also responsible for the introduction of ‘Go Home’ vans and posters. The xenophobic campaign was later scrapped.
Andrea Leadsom
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Andrea Leadsom has called Scotland’s funding into question. Comments uncovered by the BBC condemn Scotland as “heavily subsidised by the English” and warn of “another nail in the coffin of the Union”, while railing against the “enormously costly layers of government” created by devolution to Scotland.
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Andrea Leadsom previously argued for scrapping all employment rights for small businesses. In 2012, Andrea Leadsom argued for the smallest companies to be exempt from all regulations, including the minimum wage and maternity rights. She said: “I envisage there being absolutely no regulation whatsoever—no minimum wage, no maternity or paternity rights, no unfair dismissal rights, no pension rights—for the smallest companies that are trying to get off the ground.”
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As Energy Minister, she was responsible for cutting renewables subsidies, with 70 per cent of affected developments located here in Scotland.
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When appointed Energy Minister, she questioned whether climate change was real. She has said: “When I first came to this job one of my two questions was: ‘Is climate change real?’ and the other was ‘Is hydraulic fracturing safe?’ And on both of those questions I am now completely persuaded.”
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She has said that she would hold a vote to repeal the ban on fox hunting in England and Wales, claiming that the ban is not “in the interest of animal welfare”.