In the first major misstep of her campaign, Truss unveiled plans to save billions of pounds a year in government spending in a pledge that opponents said would require cutting the pay of public sector workers, including nurses and teachers, outside the wealthy south east England. . The Trust had said late on Monday that it would introduce regional pay boards instead of having a national pay agreement, adjusting pay to the local cost of living. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register But after criticism on Tuesday, Truss said: “I have never had any intention of changing the terms and conditions of teachers and nurses. But what I want to be clear about is that I will not go ahead with the regional pay boards.” The turnaround came as polls showed very different pictures of the extent of Truss’ lead over rival Rishi Sunak. A survey of 807 Conservative Party members by Italian data firm Techne conducted July 19-27 found that Truss was supported by 48%, compared to 43% for former finance minister Sunak. By contrast, a YouGov poll for The Times newspaper, conducted from July 29 to August 2, showed Truss widening her lead. He had the support of 60% of members to Sunak’s 26%, with the rest of the 1,043 members polled either undecided or not planning to vote. An earlier YouGov poll on July 20-21 had shown a 49%-31% split for Trish. Shortly before the latest poll, the Daily Mail newspaper – one of Britain’s best-selling newspapers and popular with Conservative voters – said it was backing Truss, despite her U-turn. “Mr. Sunak is a natural technocrat, albeit a clever one; Miss Truss is an authentic standard-bearer of low-tax, small-state conservatism,” the paper said in an editorial.
‘SPEECHLESS’
Tras’ public sector pay plan had faced criticism from the main opposition Labor Party and some conservative lawmakers. The Conservatives won their biggest majority in three decades in the 2019 national election, overturning conventional British politics and winning more industrial areas in central and northern England on a pledge to reduce regional inequality. A conservative lawmaker who supports Truss said the miscalculation would hurt the rest of the campaign. “This was a completely avoidable mistake, but I don’t think it will ultimately stop her being prime minister,” he said. Sunak’s supporter Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of the Tees Valley in north-east England, said he was “speechless” at the proposal. Millions of nurses, police officers and soldiers would have seen their pay cut by 1,500 pounds ($1,830) a year, Sunak’s campaign said. Rachel Reeves, Labour’s finance spokeswoman, said the Truss plan would have siphoned money from local communities. “This latest mess has revealed exactly what Liz Truss thinks of public sector workers across Britain,” he said. Sunak and Truss are competing for the votes of around 200,000 Conservative members who will choose the next prime minister, with the winner to be announced on September 5. Taxes have dominated the campaign race so far. Sunak accused Truss of being “dishonest” with voters about her promises of immediate tax cuts, saying she would wait until inflation was under control before cutting taxes. Truss says that would push the country into recession. More than 60% of Conservatives in the Techne poll said Truss had better ideas about taxation and inflation than Sunak. They also favored her immigration plans. However, respondents said Sunak had better policies on Brexit and energy. The YouGov poll showed a majority supported Truss on the cost of living, immigration and defence. John Curtice, a professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde and one of Britain’s leading poll experts, said it was hard to be sure the race was over for Sunak. “In a race that has certainly seen some pretty radical and bold proposals made by both candidates … we certainly don’t know what impact (if any) it has had on the Tory membership as a whole,” he told GB News TV. . ($1 = 0.8205 pounds) Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Additional reporting by David Milliken. Editing: Tomasz Janowski, Christina Fincher, Mike Harrison and Nick Macfie Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
