New Prime Minister to be announced on 5 September

Conservative party leaders have revealed that the next Prime Minster and leader of the party will be announced on 5 September.

In successive rounds of voting, Conservative MPs will whittle the list down to two candidates by the end of next week. Then, around 160,000 party members will elect the leader in a postal ballot.

There are currently 11 candidates in the race, with the possibility of more entering. Those who have announced their intention to run are Suella Braverman, Sajid Javid, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Jeremy Hunt, Grant Shapps, Kemi Badenoch, Nadim Zahawi, Penny Mordaunt, Tom Tugendhat and Rehman Chishti.

The main issue in the fight so far has been taxation, with most candidates pledging to cut taxes.

The 1922 backbench committee, which organises leadership contests has decided to make it harder to enter and progress in the race in an effort to eliminated fringe candidates. Candidates will require 20 nominations from fellow Tory MPs to run, up from eight at the last contest. Contenders will also need at least 30 votes from Tory MPs to progress into the second round of voting, up from 18 last time.

Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady said they wanted to have a balance between "serious candidates" entering the race, and avoiding a "cast of thousands who don't really have a great prospect of progressing".

Rishi Sunak currently has the most declared supporters among MPs, followed by Penny Mordaunt and Tom Tugendhat. All three have the 20 backers required to get on the ballot.

Boris Johnson has said that he will not endorse any of the candidates, saying: "I wouldn't want to damage anyone's chances with my support."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has criticised the candidates' tax pledges, accusing them of entering an "arms race of fantasy economics". He accused them of hypocrisy, as they had previously backed tax increases that Boris Johnson's government had introduced.