Left By 34 Points Behind Liz Truss In UK PM Candidate Poll, Rishi Sunak: It's Still Early

Rishi Sunak. (Wikimedia Commons/HM Treasury)

JAKARTA - Britain's former Treasury Secretary, Rishi Sunak, says it is still 'early days after he trailed 34 points behind rival Liz Truss in the poll of British Prime Minister candidates.

The ruling Conservative Party is choosing a new leader after Boris Johnson was forced to announce his resignation, as ministers resigned en masse from government citing a series of scandals and missteps over the past 12 months.

Sunak, whose resignation helped trigger PM Johnson's downfall, and Secretary of State Truss are the two remaining candidates in the contest. Party members will cast ballots over the next few weeks with the winner announced on September 5.

"It's still early days and I look forward to seeing more of you in the coming weeks," Sunak said in a tweet before campaigning among members of his ruling Conservative Party on Wednesday.

The winner of the party leadership contest will inherit a parliamentary majority and will automatically become prime minister.

On Tuesday a poll showed Secretary of State Truss had a 34-point lead over Sunak among Conservative Party members, with 86 percent telling the YouGov poll they had already decided how they would vote.

Truss suffered the first major misstep of his campaign on Tuesday when he was forced to back down from one of his most striking promises, a day after announcing it following backlash from fellow Conservatives and opposition parties.

He has laid out plans to save billions of pounds a year in government spending, in a promise opponents say will require cuts to the salaries of public sector workers, including nurses and teachers, outside England's wealthy southeast.

Sunak has struggled in the race, in part for his role in Johnson's resignation and his record in government.

As finance minister, Sunak implemented the tax hike to pay for government support offered during the COVID-19 pandemic, including to help Britons subsidize soaring energy bills. It has drawn criticism from many activists in the historically low-tax party.

Sunak has promised to cut taxes from time to time to avoid fueling inflation, but Truss said he would act soon to lower the tax burden.