(LONDON) Candidate for the post of British prime minister Liz Truss on Tuesday abandoned a promise of massive cuts in the salaries of civil servants which had caused an outcry, the first major setback for the favorite in the race for Downing Street.
Posted at 10:33 a.m.
Monday evening, the head of diplomacy announced a plan of 8.8 billion pounds (10.5 billion euros) in savings in public sector wages, indexing them to the cost of living in each region.
These cuts caused an outcry among some conservatives who felt that they would make nurses, police officers or even teachers poorer in already disadvantaged regions.
Tuesday morning, just 12 hours after announcing her project, Liz Truss backtracked by abandoning the idea, her spokesperson denouncing “deliberate distortions” of the plan.
“Current levels of public sector wages will be absolutely maintained,” the spokeswoman confirmed: “to suggest otherwise is wrong.”
The plan presented on Monday evening spoke well of the creation of “regional salary grids” outside London, which would ultimately save 8.8 billion pounds a year.
While the Conservatives are often in favor of cuts in public services, they won the 2019 legislative elections with the promise of “leveling up” for the benefit of disadvantaged regions, particularly in the North of England, where they recorded spectacular electoral progress.
Ben Houchen, a Tory mayor who backs Rishi Sunak in the Downing Street race, said he was left “speechless” after Liz Truss’ proposal, calling it on the BBC “horribly bad”.
According to his rival Rishi Sunak’s campaign team, such a project would eat into the salaries of nearly six million public sector workers.
Liz Truss, 47, is the favorite to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who resigned in early July after a series of scandals. In recent days, she has received support from several figures in her party, and on Tuesday from the Daily Telegraph, a daily influential with the conservative electorate.
But according to the Times, a private poll put him just five points ahead of Mr Sunak, while a YouGov poll gave him 24 by the time the two finalists for the Conservative party membership vote were announced.
This vote takes place until September 2 by correspondence. The announcement of the result is expected on September 5.