Liz Truss criticised for claiming public sector pay pledge was misrepresented – UK politics live | Politics

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Liz Trust criticized by the former Tory chief whip for claiming public sector pay pledge was misrepresented

The Conservative former chief whip, Mark Harper, a supporter of Rishi Sunak, said Liz Truss should “stop blaming” after a spokesperson for the Tory leadership hopeful said there had been a “wilful misrepresentation of our campaign”.

Stop blaming reporting – reporting what a press release says isn’t “wilful misrepresentation”

So this u-turn has wiped out £8.8bn in savings. Where are these going to come from now?

An economic policy that can’t be paid for isn’t very Conservative. Mrs Thatcher would be livid https://t.co/MPMFRUrZJP

— Mark Harper (@Mark_J_Harper) August 2, 2022

Updated at 13.42 BSTE

Key events

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Key events (7)Liz Truss (19)Rishi Sunak (8)Nicola Sturgeon (2)Ben Houchen (2)Jacob Rees-Mogg (2)

The former health secretary, Matt Hancock, has described Liz Truss’s plan to cut pay for civil servants or public sector workers as a “bad idea”.

Hancock, who is backing Rishi Sunak’s leadership bid, said cutting public sector pay for workers outside of London was “levelling DOWN not levelling UP”.

A thread on regional pay:

Cutting public sector pay outside London is a bad idea

In places like Suffolk, it’s hard enough to recruit nurses, teachers & police without cutting their pay compared to London.

This is levelling DOWN not levelling UP.

1/4

— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) August 2, 2022

He added:

We need to support public servants – including civil servants – who work hard for us all.

What if this sort of basic error was made during an election campaign? 2017 all over again.

Poor judgment, lack of detail & a gift to Labor.

I hope we see a full u-turn and this policy abandoned.

4/4

— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) August 2, 2022

Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley who earlier said he was “speechless” at Liz Truss’s plan to cut public sector pay in less expensive parts of the country, has described the Tory leadership hopeful’s proposal as “horrifically bad”.

Houchen, who is backing Rishi Sunak in the leadership contest, told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme:

It is just a huge misstep and I’m just pleased that she’s realised it and has back-tracked and has decided that this isn’t going to happen moving forward.

He added:

Is it a moment – I’m not entirely sure, it might be – we might look back in four or five weeks’ time and this could be Liz’s ‘dementia tax’ moment. It very easily could be, but it’s to be seen.

Updated at 14.26 BSTE

Heather Stewart

Jeremy Corbyn has urged western countries to stop arming Ukraine, and claimed he was criticised over antisemitism because of his stance on Palestine, in a TV interview likely to underscore Keir Starmer’s determination not to readmit him to the Labor party.

Corbyn said:

Pouring arms in isn’t going to bring about a solution, it’s only going to prolong and exaggerate this war. We might be in for years and years of a war in Ukraine.

Corbyn gave the interview on Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV channel that has carried pro-Russia reporting since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Read the full article by my colleague, Heather Stewart:

Mike Clancy, the general secretary of the Prospect union, has responded to Liz Truss’s backtracking on her flagship policy to introduce regional pay boards for public sector workers.

If Liz Truss believes public sector workers are at the bedrock of society, she needs to call off the attack dogs from her own side and start working with unions and others to give the public the support and services we need.

The British public are in a fragile place trying to cope with endless waves of rising prices and falling wages.

It is time ministers put the national interest before that of their own leadership ambition.

Updated at 14.08 BSTE

Rajeev Syal

The numbers crossing the Channel to seek refuge in the UK hit a record for the year so far on Monday, as Border Force staff braced themselves for thousands more arrivals this summer.

The Ministry of Defense said that 696 made the journey in 14 small boats on Monday. It followed 460 arrivals on Saturday and 247 on Friday, with more than 1,000 people crossing last week.

In July, 3,683 people crossed from France. The total for this year is believed to be more than 17,000.

The figures came amid reports of growing concern over plans to stem the number of boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel.

Updated at 13.54 BSTE

A source has told Jessica Elgot, the Guardian’s chief politics reporter, that Liz Truss has previously called for lower pay outside of the south-east.

More Labor frontbenchers are ridiculing Liz Truss’s now abandoned policy to cut public sector pay outside London.

Anneliese Dodds MP has tweeted the following:

Two years ago Liz Truss was clapping for key workers. Now?

⚠️ Forced to abandon plan to cut their pay outside the south east.

⚠️Wants to get rid of the people who promote diversity and inclusion in the public sector.

⚠️Hoping to tear up workers’ rights and the right to strike. https://t.co/FFEMLWCfNU

— Anneliese Dodds 💙 (@AnnelieseDodds) August 2, 2022

Updated at 13.35 BSTE

Labor’s Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry has tweeted this regarding Liz Truss’s U-turn on her flagship policy of cutting public sector pay outside London.

Having spent 18 months shadowing Liz Truss, the idea of ​​her not realizing what she’s signed up to is not exactly novel: the freeports fiasco, the shipbuilding blunder, the list goes on. After all, this is the minister who writes TL;DR with dead eye emojis on policy submissions….

— Emily Thornberry (@EmilyThornberry) August 2, 2022

Updated at 13.49 BSTE

Liz Trust criticized by the former Tory chief whip for claiming public sector pay pledge was misrepresented

The Conservative former chief whip, Mark Harper, a supporter of Rishi Sunak, said Liz Truss should “stop blaming” after a spokesperson for the Tory leadership hopeful said there had been a “wilful misrepresentation of our campaign”.

Stop blaming reporting – reporting what a press release says isn’t “wilful misrepresentation”

So this u-turn has wiped out £8.8bn in savings. Where are these going to come from now?

An economic policy that can’t be paid for isn’t very Conservative. Mrs Thatcher would be livid https://t.co/MPMFRUrZJP

— Mark Harper (@Mark_J_Harper) August 2, 2022

Updated at 13.42 BSTE

The Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, has accused Liz Truss of running her leadership campaign with “incompetence” after the Tory leadership hopeful was forced to U-turn on plans to cut civil service pay outside London.

Davey said:

U-turning on a multibillion-pound policy five weeks before even taking office must be a new record.

We can’t let Liz Truss run the country with the same incompetence she’s running her leadership campaign. The British people must have their say in a general election.

Earlier today, Davey described Truss’s plan for regional pay boards as “callous, incompetent and ridiculous”.

Threatening to cut hundreds of pounds off nurses’ and teachers’ pay in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis is callous, incompetent and ridiculous. Nasty politics from the nasty party.

— Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) August 2, 2022

Updated at 13.11 BSTE

Sources in Rishi Sunak’s leadership camp say Liz Truss has been pushing for a public sector pay cut since 2018, following her decision to abandon the policy after a furious outcry from Conservative MPs and the Tees Valley mayor.

Truss has suggested in the past that public sector workers outside London and the south-east should receive lower pay rises.

From my colleague Aubrey Allegretti:

After Truss U-turns on regional pay boards, team Sunak source says she was pushing for such a move in 2018 to limit public sector pay and adds: The lady is for turning.”

— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) August 2, 2022

Updated at 13.12 BSTE

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