Liz Truss last night unveiled plans to slash the pay of public sector workers – including teachers and nurses – outside the wealthy south-east in a bid to save £11bn. Labor said the idea would sound the death knell for the government’s “equalisation” program by widening the regional income gap.
The Tory front-runner has pitched her plan as a “war on Whitehall waste” which would also see civil servants’ holiday entitlements slashed.
But it was forced to admit it would have to replace national payments with regional awards for all public sector workers over a period of many years.
The Foreign Secretary’s proposal for regional pay councils to set wages in line with the local cost of living has sparked anger among unions.
Warning of a confrontation with Whitehall if she succeeds Boris Johnson on September 5, civil servants union PCS said it could expect “opposition at every step”.
And Labor accused her of “declaring war with her fantasy recipe for equalisation”.
Deputy leader Angela Rayner said Ms Truss’ plans would lead to a “race to the bottom for public sector pay and workers’ rights”.
Ms Rayner warned: “Her ‘specialised’ pay plans would reduce the pay of northerners, exacerbating the divide that already exists. This emergency government’s commitment to equalization is dead.”
The row came as Ms Truss’ campaign to take over 10 Downing Street received a major boost with the support of third-placed candidate Penny Mordaunt.
And a survey by Redfield & Wilton Strategies suggested she could beat Sir Keir Starmer in a general election, with 37 per cent choosing Mrs Truss as the best prime minister against 36 per cent for the Labor leader. Faced with a choice between Rishi Sunak and Starmer, those asked split 40-33 in favor of Sir Keir.
Mrs Truss initially promised to save up to £8.8bn a year by “adjusting” staff wages to match the cost of living in the areas they work.
But aides were forced to change the claim after Institute of Governance experts pointed out that the Foreign Secretary’s target was almost as much as the total annual civil service pay of around £9bn.
They specified that the regional pay will initially be introduced only for new entrants to the civil service, which will provide a small part of the claimed amounts. If successful, it will be rolled out over several years to cover all public sector workers, with the £8.8bn target only being met in the long term.
IFG program director Alex Thomas told The Independent: “Public sector pay in 2020-21 was £235 billion; civil service pay is around £9bn. So if you apply that to the civil service alone then you’ll save maybe 3 to 4 per cent of what the Truss campaign is claiming.
“This is a very long-term plan and will mean lower pay for public sector workers in areas where the cost of living and average pay are lower.
“This is not a ‘war on Whitehall’; this is an important new approach to all payments in the public sector for a very long time.”
Ms Truss said replacing national pay agreements with regional awards would save private businesses in English regions from being “crowded out” by being forced to compete with relatively high wages for state employment.
And she said she would save at least another £2bn by putting a 25-day cap on the average civil servant’s annual leave, down from the current 27 days and in line with private sector averages.
Efforts will also be made to move additional civil service jobs out of the capital to add to the 22,000 already due to leave by 2030, delivering savings of £153m in office costs and allowances in London. she claims.
But PCS general secretary Mark Servotka said: “If Liz Truss is elected and tries to go ahead with these proposals, she will face opposition every step of the way.
“Civil servants are not a political tool to be used and abused for one man’s ambition; they are the hardworking people who keep the country running day in and day out and they deserve respect.”
And Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA’s senior staff union, said Ms Truss’ promise showed her priorities were “completely out of touch with reality”.
“The fact that she has promised to move more jobs out of London while at the same time promising to cut regional wages for those same jobs is simply astounding,” Mr Penman said.
“Instead of focusing on ensuring the civil service attracts and retains the right people to deliver the high quality public services the country relies on, Liz Truss would rather take a page from P&O Ferries’ book and announce pay cuts and press terms and conditions.’
After packets of ballot papers for the Tory leadership election landed on Conservative doorsteps from Monday, Mrs Truss made another appeal to the right-wing sympathies of the party’s 160,000 members who will choose the next prime minister.
She promised to tackle “left-wing groupthink” in government by cutting 326 posts dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion in civil servants, saving up to £12m.
An official strategy drawn up by the Johnson government earlier this year said the roles exist to ensure the civil service draws effectively from talent from “the widest possible range of geographical, social and career backgrounds” and that “people from minority ethnic backgrounds, those living with disabilities and those who have experienced early life disadvantage can thrive in public service”.
However, Mrs Truss said the posts “distract from delivering on the priorities of the British people” and she would instead tell officials to focus on “delivering on manifesto commitments and frontline public services”.
She has also vowed to scrap taxpayer-funded time for public service officials to carry out union duties, which she says will save a further £137m a year.
She said: “As Prime Minister I will run a leaner, more efficient, more focused Whitehall that prioritizes the things that really matter to people and is laser-focused on frontline services.
“There is too much bureaucracy and stagnant groupthink in Whitehall. If I get to Downing Street, I will put an end to this and run a government that focuses relentlessly on delivering results for the British public and offering value to hard-working taxpayers.
“During my time in government I have shown that I am prepared to take on the orthodoxy of Whitehall and get things done. The British people can trust me to deliver on my promises and tackle the cost of living without delay.
Government Efficiency Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg – a prominent supporter of the Foreign Secretary’s bid for the Tory leadership – said he was “delighted” by her determination to continue her work to root out “woke indoctrination” in the civil service.
But Mr Penman said Ms Truss was recycling old Conservative policies that had been tried and failed in the 1980s and 2010s.
“Most civil servants would welcome private sector salary comparisons because the government’s own evidence shows that at almost every level they are paid less than their private sector contemporaries,” he said.
“As the Government faces the huge challenges posed by another war in continental Europe and a recovery from the Covid backlog, what we need in a Prime Minister are 21st century solutions, not recycled, failed policies and tired rhetoric from the 1980s.”
Add Comment