Tory leadership debate on Sky News has been cancelled

Sky News has today announced it has cancelled its Conservative leadership debate after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss pulled out from the event.

The debate was due to be hosted by Kay Burley on Tuesday evening.

Sky was the first to announce a debate last week but was beaten by Channel 4 and ITV who aired their debates on Friday and Sunday night respectively.

Tory MPs are thought to be concerned the debates are damaging the party, Sky said.

Penny Mordaunt’s campaign team said: “Its a shame some colleagues cannot find a way to debate one another in a civil way.

“Last night Penny showed she is the only candidate with a plan to unite the party, defeat Labour and lead the country forward”

One more hopeful is set to be eliminated today (Monday) when Tory MPs cast their votes in the third round of the leadership battle with more rounds of voting by MPs this week until only two contenders remain.

BREAKING: The Sky News Conservative leadership debate has been cancelled after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss confirmed that they do not want to take part.https://t.co/JCo3cbfNbS

? Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/zx6OvZ7exS

— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 18, 2022