As the UK prepares for the next general election political leaders will be increasingly keen to press their chosen messages home as they seek to convince voters to back them. But for every topic that they want to talk about there are likely several more they would probably rather avoid.
Here are the key questions that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should answer, why they and why he probably won’t.
1. Is the Conservative Party under your leadership more interested in fostering community, or promoting freedom?
There is an ideological battle within the Tories about whether to promote liberalism and free markets, or return to pre-Thatcherite notions of conservatism – Rishi Sunak has not yet indicated which side he is on.
2. How can you understand what the voter needs when your family is thousands of times more wealthy than the average UK household?
The Prime Minister and his wife, Akshata Murty, are one of the wealthiest couples in Britain with an estimated £730m fortune and he has often been accused of being out of touch with the struggles of the general public.
3. How can we trust you when you betrayed your own leader Boris Johnson?
Many Tory activists and MPs have not forgiven Mr Sunak for resigning from Mr Johnson’s Cabinet, after two and a half years as his right-hand man.
4. Could Boris Johnson ever return to the front benches under your leadership?
The former prime minister may have left Parliament but he has hinted he could one day return to politics, a prospect which would delight his followers and horrify those who have lost faith in him.
5. Did Liz Truss have a point when she said you had no plan for growth?
Mr Sunak has stabilised the economy after the chaos of the brief Truss era but has not set out a comprehensive strategy to boost Britain’s GDP.
6. Which group of voters do you consider more important, the ‘Red Wall’ or ‘Blue Wall’?
Some polling experts believe the Conservatives cannot continue to appeal both to their affluent, liberal support base in the south of England and to the former Labour backers in the north and Midlands who turned Tory at the last election.
7. What will you do to help older people pay for social care?
The introduction of a comprehensive strategy to help the elderly pay for care has been repeatedly delayed and the money allocated for the policy is being swallowed up by the NHS.
8. Are you happy with everything Suella Braverman has done as Home Secretary?
Ms Braverman is a divisive figure; the Prime Minister often declines to endorse her comments and decisions, without going as far as to oppose them.
9. Should asylum seekers be able to apply for refugee status in the UK from another country?
One reason migrants cross the English Channel in small boats is that, other than for a handful of groups, it is not possible to put in an asylum claim unless you are already in the UK.
10. Has Brexit been as successful as you thought it would be when you campaigned for it?
Mr Sunak claims to be optimistic about Britain’s future outside the EU but so far Brexit appears to have harmed the economy and imposed red tape on businesses.
11. Is there a place for Remainers in the Conservative Party?
Mr Johnson purged anti-Brexit Tory MPs such as Rory Stewart and it is not yet clear whether Mr Sunak is ready to welcome them back.
12. How will you improve travel to Europe, such as reducing queues at ports?
For many Britons the most obvious effect of Brexit is disruption when they travel on holiday to the continent and the Government has not set out a plan to deal with this.
13. Will the UK ever be able to strike a free-trade agreement with the US, and if so should it?
A US trade deal has been on ice since Joe Biden became President.
14. Does the fall in donations to the Conservative party show you have already lost the confidence of business, and the next election?
Labour’s fundraising is outstripping that of the Tories – which could threaten the governing party’s ability to finance its general election campaign.
15. Do you believe climate change is one of the biggest threats facing the UK?
Mr Sunak claims he remains committed to the “net zero” agenda but has signalled a shift away from green policies and even some Conservatives say he does not regard this as a priority.
16. Will you extend the 2030 deadline for the ban on sales of diesel and petrol cars?
It is just seven years until it will be illegal to sell any cars with internal combustion engines, which will have a huge impact on British industry.
17. Will you keep or scrap the energy price cap?
The price cap did not stop energy costs from soaring last year and is blamed for keeping bills high now.
18. What will you do to stop the pollution of Britain’s rivers?
Campaigners warn that rivers have become more polluted in recent years and want a crackdown in the regulation of water companies.
19. Will you allow onshore windfarms to be built?
Mr Sunak has retained a de facto ban on onshore wind but claims he is theoretically open to changing his mind.
20. How many nuclear power stations will you build, and when?
The Government’s stated commitment to new nuclear has not yet resulted in the confirmation of any new power stations.
21. How long will the windfall tax on energy companies stay for?
The Prime Minister has been under persistent pressure to strengthen the existing windfall tax, but as global energy prices fall it is unclear how long the levy will stay in place.
22. What will you do to ensure the UK is a world leader in AI technology?
Mr Sunak has put AI at the centre of his vision for the future but the US and China have a big head start and the EU has a far larger market than Britain’s.
23. How worried are you about the risk that AI could wipe out humanity and what would you do to try and stop this?
If experts who worry about the existential risk of AI are correct, it is the most important long-term dangers facing the world – but it is unclear what impact the UK can have in solving the problem.
24. When will you cut the overall tax burden?
Mr Sunak calls himself a “low tax” enthusiast but as Chancellor and Prime Minister has allowed the tax burden to grow to a record peacetime level.
25. Is it fair that capital gains tax is so much lower than income tax?
Gains from wealth attract a much lower level of tax than income from work – an arrangement which probably helps the Sunak family.
26. Should the Bank of England’s inflation target remain at 2 per cent?
There is little immediate prospect of inflation returning to the 2 per cent level the Bank of England is supposed to target and some economists believe it will eventually settle at a permanently higher plateau.
27. Is the triple lock justified in an era of high inflation?
The Prime Minister has committed to the “triple lock” on state pensions, meaning the income of retired people will have grown much faster than that of workers over the first half of this decade because their pensions are linked to rising inflation.
28. Can you guarantee the pension age will not be raised again?
With an ageing population politicians may conclude that they have to keep raising the state pension age to keep the system affordable.
29. Should the two-child cap on child benefit be permanent?
The Conservatives introduced the two-child cap despite concerns from some of their supporters that it is one factor suppressing the country’s birth rate.
30. The number of people on disability benefit has increased – is there any way to reverse that?
The reason for a significant increase in the number of people claiming disability remains unclear but the problem is contributing to labour shortages.
31. Is the NHS sustainable in light of its ever-growing cost?
The health service has been claiming an increasing proportion of the money available to fund public services, ever since it was founded.
32. How will you reduce NHS waiting lists?
Mr Sunak has made reducing the wait for treatment one of his five key priorities. But ministers have admitted they expect the lists to climb even further from their current record high.
33. Will you build 40 new hospitals by 2030?
This was a key manifesto promise at the last election but the programme appears to be in serious trouble.
34. Should local councils continue to get a veto over individual planning applications?
Some campaigners for planning reform believe that the only way to encourage housebuilding is to remove the individual veto, allowing developers to build as long as they meet a set of guidelines which has been determined in advance.
35. Will you finish HS2, and run it to Leeds as well as Manchester?
The “eastern leg” of High Speed 2 rail is in limbo and may never be built.
36. Will you build ‘northern powerhouse rail’ from Liverpool to Hull?
Mr Johnson promised this ambitious project at the last general election but it is at risk of being downgraded.
37. Do you want Britain to have a larger manufacturing sector, and what is your industrial strategy to make that happen?
Successive governments have talked about reviving manufacturing, but industry leaders complain that the lack of a proper long term industrial strategy is holding the UK back.
38. When will you produce trans guidance for schools?
This guidance has been promised for months but as the new school year begins, teachers still do not know what is expected of them when dealing with transgender pupils.
39. What will you do to improve conviction rates for rape?
It has proven stubbornly difficult to ensure that rape victims see their attackers brought to justice.
40. Should all European countries which want to join Nato be allowed to?
Allowing Ukraine and Georgia, among others, to join Nato would support countries in vulnerable positions but risk enraging the Russian government.
41. Should the UK intervene to help Taiwan if it is attacked or invaded by China?
Britain has long maintained a stance of strategic ambiguity over Taiwan but an attack is becoming more likely.
42. At what point would you support a negotiated peace deal to end the Ukraine war?
Mr Sunak has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine’s military efforts and has so far refused to countenance what should happen if the war grinds to a bloody stalemate.
43. Under what circumstances would you authorise another referendum on Scottish independence?
The Conservatives say any referendum should be “once in a generation” but will not put a precise figure on how many years that means.
44. Under what circumstances would you authorise a referendum on Welsh independence?
Support for independence in Wales has reached as high as 39 per cent in recent years.
45. Will you impose direct rule on Northern Ireland if the parties cannot form a government?
The Prime Minister’s “Windsor framework” breakthrough on post-Brexit trade rules has not achieved its goal of restoring power-sharing at Stormont.
46. How will you improve standards of behaviour in Parliament?
Bad behaviour by Conservative MPs has led to a number of damaging by-elections.
47. Does the House of Lords need reform?
Mr Sunak has never expressed a strong view about the future of the second chamber.
48. Why have you repeatedly failed to be transparent about your family’s finances?
The Prime Minister’s wife held non-domiciled tax status when he was Chancellor, and he was recently rebuked for not declaring her stake in a childcare firm which stood to benefit from Government policies.
49. What is your plan to stop government spending, and therefore taxation, going up and up indefinitely?
Over time, spending has increased – even in the austerity era – but so has concern about the quality of services.
50. What is the point of holding power if you don’t want to implement radical economic policies?
Mr Sunak has said little concrete about his vision for the economy in the long term and has focussed instead on short-term crisis management.
