The report, entitled ‘Back to Black’, which was uncovered by TalkTV, also proposed cuts to the pensions, education and communities budgets as part of push to shrink the size of the state under the then Labour government.
The frontrunner to replace Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, argued for cutting doctors’ pay by 10 percent and called for patients to be charged to see their GPs, an unearthed document has revealed.
The foreign secretary also called for the universal child benefit to be abolished, in the report which she co-wrote with six other people when she was deputy director of The Reform think tank.
The report, entitled ‘Back to Black’, which was uncovered by TalkTV, also proposed cuts to the pensions, education and communities budgets as part of push to shrink the size of the state under the then Labour government.
The Truss campaign told Talk TV’s News Desk: “Co-authoring a document does not mean that someone supports every proposal put forward.”
Under a section called “Introduce user charges for GPs”, the report states: “User charges should be introduced and there should be greater reliance upon other health professionals… for treating less serious ailments”.
“Reduce the pay of doctors and NHS managers by 10%,” the report continues.
“Abolish universal child benefit. Instead child benefit should be targeted on families on low incomes”.
Truss is the favourite to replace Johnson, with a Conservative Home poll of party members finding that she was 32 points ahead of Rishi Sunak. This despite the fact that earlier this week, a leaked audio recording obtained by the Guardian, revealed Truss claiming that British workers needed “more graft” and suggested they lacked the “skill and application” of foreign rivals.
She has also previously co-authored a book called Britannia Unchained in 2012, in which a passage stated: “Once they enter the workplace, the British are among the worst idlers in the world. We work among the lowest hours, we retire early and our productivity is poor. Whereas Indian children aspire to be doctors or businessmen, the British are more interested in football and pop music.”
Far from being a ‘patriot’, Truss clearly holds millions of British people in contempt.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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