After two polls and countless debates at pubs and hustings up and down the country, CYW sat down with Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to put our members questions to them.
More than 150 members submitted questions, these were sifted into the most popular and were put to the candidates. The questions were:
The number of middle-income 25 to 34 year olds owning their own home has plummeted from almost two-thirds in 1997 to barely a fifth in 2017. What will you do between now and the general election to make it more feasible for young people to buy their own home?
The Rose Review found that up to £250 billion of new value could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as UK men – what will you do to encourage and support female entrepreneurs to create economic growth?
We lost two by-elections this year because of sexual misconduct – reports find high levels of harassment amongst Westminster staffers (both men and women) – this isn’t just a Conservative issue but change starts at the top – what will you do to change the tone and culture?
What are your views on the online safety bill? What else would a Conservative Government under your leadership do to improve women’s safety?
75% of mums work, but by the time a woman’s first child is 12, her pay is 33% less than a man’s; England also has the second highest childcare costs in Europe after Switzerland, as Prime Minister, how would you help mothers, particularly those who return to work?
Asian women are more than twice as likely to die in childbirth than white women, black women are four times more likely – what can you say to women of colour – many of whom are fearful when they read these kinds of findings - about measures you would take to address racial disparity in the NHS?
Young voters are more likely to vote to break up the United Kingdom in any referendum on the Union – what would your premiership do to make the case for the Union to young people?
What will you do to make parliament and the government look more like the country it represents?
Find out what the candidates had to say:
Rishi Sunak Transcript
Liz Truss Transcript
CYW's polls have been covered on Woman's Hour - the links to the three episodes are here:
They were also reported by the Financial Times, the article is behind a paywall and can be found here.
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