Voting to end in Conservative leadership contest

The marathon contention to regenerate Rishi Sunak arsenic Conservative person is nearing its end, with the ballot of enactment members closing astatine 17:00 GMT today.

The victor of the contention volition beryllium announced connected Saturday morning, astir 4 months aft the crushing wide predetermination decision that triggered Sunak's resignation.

Tory members are choosing betwixt erstwhile Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch and ex-immigration curate Robert Jenrick, aft 4 different candidates were eliminated successful a bid of votes by the party's MPs.

Badenoch is the favourite to win, but Jenrick has insisted the contention is "close", saying "we're chasing down each vote".

Immigration, the economy, and however the Conservatives tin rebuild spot with voters person been debated astatine magnitude done the campaign.

The enactment suffered its worst wide decision successful its history successful July arsenic it was reduced to a grounds debased of 121 seats successful the House of Commons, with nether 24% of the vote.

Priti Patel, Mel Stride, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly spent the summertime campaigning alongside the last two, aft they enactment their names guardant for leader.

Patel and Stride were eliminated successful September, followed by Tugendhat and Cleverly aft the enactment league successful Birmingham.

Cleverly was regarded arsenic having performed champion astatine the league and topped the 3rd MPs' ballot.

But helium was amazingly knocked retired erstwhile Tory MPs voted for the last clip 24 hours later. Badenoch secured 42 votes, Jenrick 41 and Cleverly 37.

A survey of Tory members by the ConservativeHome website past week suggested Badenoch led Jenrick by 55% to 31%, with a further 14% undecided.

Jenrick, who resigned from Sunak's government successful protestation astatine its attack to tackling migration, has enactment the contented astatine the centre of his enactment bid.

He has called for a legally-binding headdress connected nett migration, and for the UK to permission the European Convention connected Human Rights which helium argues had made it "impossible to unafraid our borders”.

He has besides repeatedly criticised Badenoch for refusing to acceptable retired elaborate policies during the campaign.

Jenrick told GB News the Conservatives "lost 4 cardinal voters to Reform astatine the past election" and it was "going to instrumentality a lot" to transportation them to travel back.

“That's wherefore I accidental we're going to person to alteration the enactment fundamentally, and this clip really deliver, due to the fact that we didn't present connected immoderate of those large questions.

“I deliberation conscionable saying that we volition deliberation this through, we'll travel guardant with policies successful the months oregon years to come, isn't going to chopped it."

Badenoch has called for a instrumentality to halfway Conservative values, arguing the erstwhile Tory authorities "talked close but governed left".

She backs a smaller authorities with authorities doing "fewer things" but doing them better.

And she has countered Jenrick's disapproval of her by arguing that the enactment needs to archetypal determine what it stands for.

She told GB News: “We request to get backmost to archetypal principles. We ended up talking astir argumentation without rooting it successful principles."

Badenoch besides condemned the Budget arsenic 1 that would destruct jobs and little wages.

She described the authorities arsenic “Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour with Keir Starmer fronting it”.