BROMSGROVE MP Sajid Javid has thrown his support behind Liz Truss’s Tory leadership bid.

The former chancellor has warned that Rishi Sunak’s more cautious tax plans would see the nation “sleepwalking” into a “high-tax, low-growth” economy.

The announcement came after the campaign of Ms Truss, the Foreign Secretary, was boosted by two surveys giving her overwhelming leads over Mr Sunak as they face off to become the next prime minister.

She won a 34-percentage point lead over Mr Sunak in a YouGov poll of party members, before a survey for the ConservativeHome website released on Wednesday, August 3 put her 32 ahead.

Mr Javid, whose resignation as health secretary minutes before Mr Sunak quit as chancellor, then threw his support behind the frontrunner.

The failed leadership candidate warned that “tax cuts now are essential” as Mr Sunak resists adopting Ms Truss’s more radical plan, saying he must get to grips with spiralling inflation first.

In an article for The Times, Mr Javid said the nation risks “sleepwalking into a big-state, high-tax, low-growth, social democratic model which risks us becoming a middle-income economy by the 2030s”.

“If we can renew our government with a bold agenda, the Conservatives can still beat Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP at the next election – and the evidence suggests Liz is the best-placed candidate to do so,” he added.

Mr Javid launched a leadership run on a platform of swift tax cuts, but quickly pulled out, struggling to win enough nominations from Tory MPs to go through to the first round of voting.

The YouGov survey showed 60 per cent of party members polled between July 29 and August 2 saying they intended to vote for the Foreign Secretary, with 26 per cent backing Mr Sunak.