Ms Truss and Mr Sunak faced stiff challenges from largely undecided Conservative members, followed by questions from Sky News’ Kay Burley. After the pair presented their arguments on why they should replace Boris Johnson as leader of the Tory party, and therefore prime minister, audience members were asked who they thought won the argument. The audience, made up of members of the Conservative Party, convincingly supported Mr Sunak by a show of hands rather than Mrs Truss. Foreign Secretary Ms Truss has been winning the polls since the battle narrowed to two, with the latest polls putting her around 32 percentage points ahead of Mr Sunak among Tory MPs. Live Updates: Truss Says Recession ‘Not Inevitable’ Sunak said he “stabbed” Johnson Read more: Tras rejects demand to apologize for overturning public sector pay policy Ms Truss has cast herself as a candidate for integrity, repeatedly saying she will always listen to people and do something different if a policy isn’t working. He said a recession was “not inevitable”, hours after raising interest rates, and promised “bold” action compared to Mr Sunak’s reticence. But former chancellor Mr Sunak said Ms Truss’s vision would “make it worse”, as he reminded members of the public of his financial actions to help people during the COVID pandemic. He stressed the need to tackle runaway inflation before cutting taxes, adding: “But it all starts with not making things worse. “Because if we just add fuel to the fire of this inflationary spiral, all of us, all of you, will end up with higher mortgage rates, eaten up savings and pensions, and misery for millions.” Mr Sunak said there were “natural” steps that could be taken to tackle the recession and rejected Ms Truss’ accusations that the tax burden was causing the recession, saying: “That’s just wrong. What’s causing the recession is the inflation”. Ms Truss repeated her pledge to immediately reverse the national insurance increase brought in by Mr Sunak, as well as cut other taxes to prevent job losses due to recession. “What the Bank of England has said today is of course extremely worrying, but it is not inevitable,” he said. “We can change the outcome and we can make the growth of the economy more likely. “Now is the time to be bold, because if we don’t act now, we’re headed for very, very difficult times.” But Mr Sunak is fighting and when asked if he would concede the fight at some point, he said: “The quick answer is no, and that’s because I’m fighting for something I really believe in and I’m taking my ideas across the country. “I will fight incredibly hard until the last day of this campaign for every single one of your votes. “The stakes are too high.”