UK Politics | Sir Keir Starmer PM After Hours

[David76]

Liz Truss has scrapped a plan to link public sector pay to local living costs following a backlash from Tory MPs and opposition parties.

The Tory leadership candidate had proposed regional pay boards, in a bid to save taxpayers a potential £8.8bn.

But the policy was criticised by several senior Tories, who argued it would mean lower pay for millions of workers outside London.
Ms Truss has now said the proposal would not be taken forward.

The foreign secretary told the BBC the plan had been "misrepresented" and people had been "unnecessarily worried about my policies".

"I never had any intention of changing the terms and conditions of teachers and nurses," Ms Truss said. "But what I want to be clear about it that I will not be going ahead with the regional pay boards."

Announcing the policy on Monday night, Ms Truss had said she wanted "a leaner, more efficient, more focused Whitehall" and set out plans which suggested savings of £11bn a year.

This included £8.8bn which would come from introducing regional pay boards, meaning that civil servant pay - and potentially later other public sector workers' salaries - could be adjusted to reflect the area where civil servants work.

It could have seen workers in, for example, the south-west or north of England paid less than those in the south-east.

In addition to saving money, the Truss camp also argued it would help boost growth in areas, where the private sector had been crowded out by public sector salaries.

It's not the U-turn, it's the fact that she actually thought it was a good policy in the first place. Anyone could spot the major flaw in the idea, in fact, just about everyone in the country could see it but apparently not the person who may well be running the country next month. It was stupidity of epic proportions. On a scale of 1 to 10 of really stupid ideas, it was a 20!

 

[David76]

And another gaff from Truss, this time taking a swipe at Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

Tory leadership hopeful Liz Truss has claimed it is best to ignore "attention seeker" Nicola Sturgeon.

The foreign secretary criticised Scotland's first minister before ruling out a second independence referendum.

Speaking at a hustings event in Exeter, Ms Truss described herself as "a child of the Union", having spent some of her youth living in Paisley.

Scotland's deputy first minister John Swinney said her comments were "completely and utterly unacceptable".

Talking to voters at the hustings event, Ms Truss said: "I really believe we're a family and we're better together."

Tory party members then cheered and applauded as she said: "I think the best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is ignore her.
"She's an attention seeker, that's what she is.

"What we need to do is show the people of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales what we're delivering for them and making sure that all of our government policies apply right across the United Kingdom."

 

[Bandit]

It's not the U-turn, it's the fact that she actually thought it was a good policy in the first place. Anyone could spot the major flaw in the idea, in fact, just about everyone in the country could see it but apparently not the person who may well be running the country next month. It was stupidity of epic proportions. On a scale of 1 to 10 of really stupid ideas, it was a 20!

The proposal she u-turned on seems to have been lifted straight from this 'research' by the Taxpayers Alliance.

Local public sector pay rates could save taxpayers £9 billion

TaxPayers’ Alliance proposes reforms to national pay bargaining in the public sector, saving £8.8bn and making the system for pay deals fairer.

www.taxpayersalliance.com

 

[Bandit]

And another gaff from Truss, this time taking a swipe at Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

I don't agree with another Independence Referendum but Sturgeon would dust the floor with her or Sunak in a live debate. This will just fuel the SNP's Independence campaign.

No leader, or potential leader, of a country, should be saying that about the leader of another nation.

 

[Siobhan]

Liz Truss to become the UK's next Prime Minister after Tory leadership victory.

 

[Tom]

She is such a bad public speaker - I think the main beneficiary of a Truss premiership is going to be Theresa May who in hindsight we will probably look back on and say in comparison wasn't so bad.

If you thought Boris was bad, just wait.....

 

[Dylan]

She'll make Boris Johnson look vaguely competent.

I think I would actually rather have Boris. Bleak times ahead if she follows through with her insane tax plans.

 

[Tom]

Looks like the new cabinet will largely be named tonight.

 https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1567190750026235906

 

[Shelby]

Terrifying how badly this could all go in the next few years. It's been bad enough over the last 3 years, but this seems an even higher level of shitshow.

 

[Dylan]

The Liz Truss-led government has been even more of a disaster than anyone thought.

Kwasi Kwarteng has been sacked as Chancellor after just 38 days in the job (including a 10 day break when the Queen died). He met Liz Truss at Downing Street a little earlier, after cutting short a US visit and flying back to London. Kwarteng lost his job just three weeks after he announced unfunded tax cuts that triggered financial turmoil.

And his replacement....JEREMY HUNT!!!

Jeremy Hunt, the former health and foreign secretary, is appointed chancellor after Kwasi Kwarteng is sacked