Truss stumbles over plan to slash pay

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LONDON (AP) – British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has bolstered her front-runner status in the race to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson by gaining a valuable endorsement from a former rival. But the race remains volatile, and Truss was forced yesterday to drop a proposal to cut some public sector salaries after the idea drew scorn from fellow Conservatives.

Truss, who is running against ex-Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, said on Monday that she would reduce salaries for civil servants living outside London, in cheaper parts of the country, as part of a “war” on public sector “waste”. She said the move could save taxpayers up to GBP8.8 billion a year, but critics said it would mean cutting people’s pay at a time when prices for food and fuel are soaring.

Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen of the deprived Tees Valley region of northeast England said he was “actually speechless” at the idea.

“There is simply no way you can do this without a massive pay cut for 5.5 million people including nurses, police officers and our armed forces outside London. So much that we’ve worked for in places like Teesside would be undone,” he wrote on Twitter.

Before noon, Truss had abandoned the plan, with her campaign saying “current levels of public sector pay will absolutely be maintained” and there would be no regional variations.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss poses for a photo at an event in Biggin Hill Airport. PHOTO: AP

Truss and Sunak are vying to replace Johnson, who resigned as Tory leader last month after months of ethics scandals.

Truss appears to have more momentum, winning the endorsement of influential Conservatives figures including well-regarded Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, who was a leadership candidate before being knocked out of the contest last month.

Truss got another boost when former rival Penny Mordaunt backed her on Monday. Trade minister Mordaunt, a rising star of the party who got down to the final three contenders in the leadership race, said Truss was “the hope candidate” and had the “bold economic plan that our nation needs”.

The vast majority of Britain’s 67 million people have no say in selecting their next prime minister. About 180,000 Conservative members across the United Kingdom (UK) will vote in the next few weeks in a party leadership contest. The winner will be announced on September 5 and will automatically become prime minister. The new leader won’t have to face voters until the next general election, due to be held by 2024.

The candidates are making sweeping policy proposals in a bid to win party votes, and their promises are drawing increasing scrutiny as the summer-long election goes on.