“If this is a serious policy, we will fight it tooth and nail.”

Tory leadership hopeful Liz Truss has been slammed for planning to cut pay for public sector workers, including teachers and nurses, outside the south east of the country in a bid to save £11bn.

This from the same party that has been claiming it wishes to ‘level up’ poorer parts of the country.

Truss made the announcement as part of her latest pitch to Tory party members, as she promised to crack down on ‘Whitehall waste’. The bulk of the savings (£8.8bn) pledged by Truss would come from paying public sector workers living in cheaper areas of the country less than counterparts in places like London and the South East where the cost of living is higher.

Her plans to pay public sector workers less amid a cost of living crisis was met with a furious backlash.

Andy Burnham, Labour’s Mayor of Greater Manchester pledged to fight the policy tooth and nail. Sharing the Independent’s story, He tweeted: “Pay cuts for nurses and public sector workers in the North?

“I don’t think so.

“If this is a serious policy, we will fight it tooth and nail.”

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner tweeted: “Liz Truss is declaring war on herself with this recipe for levelling down.

“A race to the bottom that would cut the pay of school and NHS workers outside London, widening the divide and punishing the North.

“This out-of-touch Tory Government’s commitment to levelling up is dead.”

Truss’ plans also received criticism from some within her own party, with Conservative mayor of Tees Valley Ben Houchen saying he was left speechless by the plans.

‘There is simply no way you can do this without a massive pay cut for 5.5m people including nurses, police officers and our armed forces outside London’, he said.

‘So much that we’ve worked for in places like Teesside, would be undone’.

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward

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