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Liz Truss’s pledge to slash public sector pay ‘callous, incompetent and ridiculous’ say Welsh Liberal Democrats

02 Aug 2022 2 minute read
Liz Truss. Photo Henry Nicholls. PA Images

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have hit out at Conservative Party leadership candidate Liz Truss after she said that she would slash public sector wages for staff living outside London and the south east of England.

The frontrunner in the Tories protracted contest to select a new leader to replace Boris Johnson unveiled the new policy, which would see regional pay boards “tailor pay to the cost of living where civil servants actually work”, yesterday evening.

The bulk of the savings – some £8.8 billion – would come from paying workers living in cheaper areas of the country less, she said.

It was not immediately clear how this would impact the pay of staff in devolved areas, although cuts at Whitehall would translate into less money available to the Welsh Government which gets a population share of UK Government spending.

Financial incompetence

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said: “This Conservative Party leadership contest is a race to the bottom and the Welsh public look set to pay a heavy price for the Conservative party’s financial incompetence.

“It is beggars’ belief that rather than levelling up Wales, Liz Truss is now talking about cutting salaries for thousands of hard-working Welsh workers during an out-of-control cost-of-living crisis.

“The 430,000 Welsh soldiers, police officers and civil servants deserve better than this callous, incompetent and ridiculous proposal. This comes after Liz Truss already sold-out Welsh farmers on the back of her Australian and New Zealand trade deals.

“This is nasty politics from the nasty party.

“Between both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak the Conservative Party has failed to come up with any plans to help people through the cost-of-living crisis and now as we head into what is set to be an extraordinarily difficult winter for most,

“Truss wants to snatch money away from hard pressed families.

“Not only will this impact public servants, but it will also impact the local economy they work in with those affected experiencing reduced spending power to put back into local businesses.

“This is without even considering the possible implications this policy could have on the Barnett Formula and what is given to Wales to spend on nurses and teachers.


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Arwyn
Arwyn
1 year ago

Welsh Lib Dems need a dose of realpolitik. They’ve been in government at a UK level only once in the last century. They’re at an historic low point in Wales. They should get behind the policy of a Welsh Nation State and advocate the sort of confederal union that should be their natural political territory. Ditto Welsh Labour. What they are calling for on the constitution will not come to fruition simply because Labour UK refuses to work with other parties or enact any meaningful constitutional/electoral reform. Hellbent on beating the Tories at their own game. Writing is on the… Read more »

I Humphrys
I Humphrys
1 year ago
Reply to  Arwyn

Temptation to interfere by someone like Truss, dooms any confederation. Why, they want to poke their noses into giants like China and Russia, so what autonomy would we have?

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
1 year ago

The several faces of Truss on here today remind me of the old Fry’s 5 boys chocolate advertisement

Charles Coombes
Charles Coombes
1 year ago

Liz Truss = Margaret Thatcher
But this time we MUST do something.

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