Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss, who will be the next UK PM?

Conservative leaders Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss will fight it out in the next few weeks to become the next United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister.

The two finalists in a party election to replace Boris Johnson were decided after the race for second place was won by Truss by 8 votes against former UK defence secretary Penny Mordaunt.

Sunak and Truss will spend the next few weeks campaigning for the votes of about 1,80,000 Conservative Party members across the country.

The result will be announced on September 5.

Rishi Sunak: The 42-year-old has been the top contender to be the PM since Boris Johnson resigned.

• The MP for Richmond in Yorkshire first entered the UK Parliament in 2015 and has quickly risen up the Conservative Party ranks. He became quite popular as a staunch Brexit supporter.
• Sunak had co-founded a 1-billion-pound global investment firm and specialised in investing in small British businesses before he decided to enter into politics.

• In the government, he started as Junior Minister for local government in 2018 and became the chief secretary to the treasury in 2019.
• In 2020, he became the chancellor of the exchequer, the most important UK Cabinet post.

Liz Truss: The 46-year-old entered the final two of the PM race after her 8-vote win over Penny Mordaunt.

• The MP from South West Norfolk, worked as an accountant for Shell and Cable & Wireless and was Deputy Director of the right-of-centre Reform think tank, before joining politics.
• Born in Oxford in 1975, Truss is the daughter of a maths professor and a nurse.

• She ran unsuccessfully for Parliament twice before being elected to represent the eastern England seat of South West Norfolk in 2010.
• Truss was once opposed to Brexit but under Johnson's government, she started supporting the idea of leaving the European Union.

Policy differences: Even though both Sunak and Truss are Conservative leaders, their views on some key policies are completely different and this can be a factor in deciding who becomes the next UK PM.

On taxation and cost of living: Sunak won praises for rescue packages during Covid, including an employment programme. As chancellor of the exchequer, Sunak in May had implemented a £15 billion package of support to help Britons. He is vowing to stick with a host of recent tax rises in a bid to balance the books.

Truss, on the other hand, has accused Sunak of pulling Britain to the brink of recession, and vowed to "start cutting taxes from day one" including corporation tax paid by businesses, reported AFP. She said that these tax cuts will fuel economic growth.

On Brexit: While Sunak was one of the biggest supporters of Brexit since 2016, Truss had backed remaining in the European Union in Britain's 2016 referendum, but later on became a supporter of the cause.

On immigration: Both Conservative leaders have been pushing for curbing waves of migrants into the UK. But, on the government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, their approach has been different. While Truss has completely supported the action, Sunak has questioned the move over its £120 million costs.

Whoever is the winner, the UK will either have first PM of colour or third woman PM.