UK leader hopefuls make final push amid soaring cost crisis

By SYLVIA HUI
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The two candidates vying to become Britain’s next prime minister are making their final push to win over Conservative Party members ahead of a leadership announcement on Monday. Britain has been rudderless for weeks as it endures a deepening cost-of-living crisis, the worst to hit the country for decades. Since Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his impending resignation on July 7, a cascade of workers’ strikes has disrupted ports, trains and multiple industrial sectors as energy and food costs skyrocket and unions demand better pay. The two finalists, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, have been widely criticized for not presenting concrete policies to help ordinary people struggling to afford essential items.