(Bloomberg) -- Spain’s opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, who is looking to become premier in a snap July election, promised to cut taxes and slash the country’s soaring public obligations in a bid to highlight his business-friendly credentials.  

“I’m very worried about Spain’s debt,” Feijoo, the leader of the conservative People’s Party, said at a business event in Barcelona Wednesday. “We have to attract investment and tell companies that Spain is the best place for them to invest.” 

Feijoo became the front-runner for the July 23 national election after the PP trounced Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist party in regional and municipal ballots over the weekend. A poll published Wednesday showed that the PP and Vox, an ultra-right, anti-immigration party, have a comfortable enough margin to form a government. 

Barcelona is the capital of the Catalan region, which plays a central role in any Spanish election given its size, population and wealth. It has also been a traditional Socialist stronghold and handed the party one of its best performances in the May 28 election.  

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In Wednesday’s speech, Feijoo accused Sachez of alienating the business establishment, saying windfall taxes on banks and energy firms passed last year scared off investors. “These are policies that can win votes, but not investments,” he said.

Feijoo also said he would lower debt relative to output; cut public sector deficit; and review a tax on the wealthy that Sanchez passed last year. 

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