Another U turn on all the work her own Government have been doing.
How does this fit in with the Government’s own research and their own Plan in 2018 Childhood obesity: a plan for action
And their follow up Research and Report in 2020 and subsequent legislation in 2021 Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives
Has she considered all this - and considered the recent Reports which show how much Type 2 diabetes is costing the NHS on an ever increasing scale?
I’m afraid these “no nanny state” sound bites and populist promises are designed to curry favour with the few traditional Tory Party members who will be selecting the new PM - but has she really thought it through?
Is she letting down our children and the NHS in order to grab votes for herself?
Do they ever think policy promises through.
If one of these would be PM candidates promised the implement the last lot of broken / forgotten election promises that would be a great start…. I can’t remember what they were but nothing financially good has happened .
The £8.8bn figure appears to come from a report from Taxpayers’ Alliance - a campaign group which supports cuts in taxes and spending.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance says its £8.8bn was worked out by taking an estimated saving of £6.3bn from a report by Policy Exchange in 2012 and increasing it to account for “growth in the public sector pay bill” since then.
That 2012 report found that equalising pay between the public sector and the private sector could save the government £4.2bn from reducing the pay of people in the public sector being paid more than their counterparts in the private sector.
But it said it would also cost the government £8bn to increase the pay of those in the public sector paid less than their private sector counterparts. So that would mean an overall cost to the government of £3.8bn a year.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance bases the need for change on a claim that pay was 14.1% higher “for public sector staff compared to their private sector equivalents in 2021”.
That’s not quite right - the 14.1% figure is for all public sector employees compared with all private sector employees (it’s table 25.7a here), but it’s not comparing people with their equivalents.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies published an analysis that did compare workers with their “equivalents” - they adjusted for the sorts of qualifications and experience people had.
They found that on the eve of the pandemic the gap between public and private sector pay once the characteristics of the workers had been taken into account was only 0.9%.
“This is a very Treasury idea, it comes around every few years - what it is, is really complicated and quite controversial,” said Alex Thomas from the Institute for Government. “I think the reason why chancellors and prime ministers have tended to abandon it is the benefits are pretty marginal both in terms of the costs you can save and the benefits to the local economy.”
Liz Truss abandons £8.8 billion policy to slash public sector pay amid backlash
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Secretary’s campaign claimed there had been “wilful misrepresentation” of the proposal amid growing blue-on-blue attacks, but made clear they would be dropping it and instead maintaining current levels of pay for nurses, police officers and teachers.
Ms Truss said her policy had been “misinterpreted” and she had “no intention to affect teachers and nurses”.
“I don’t want people to be concerned, so I’m being very clear, we will not be going ahead with the regional pay board…I’m being honest that there were concerns expressed,” she added.
“I believe my policy was being misinterpreted, I want to be clear with the public, that I will not be going ahead with the regional pay boards. I’m somebody who is honest and up front and I do what I say I will do and I’m being clear I will not be doing that.”
So, let’s be clear, other people are to blame - it’s a witch-hunt, a conspiracy and a stitch-up …
Angela Rayner @AngelaRayner
Liz Truss wilfully misrepresented her own pay proposals and then tried to cover her tracks. She’s a lightweight and a liability.
On a visit to Solihull, she said lowering taxes would help ease the cost of living crisis.
Foreign Secretary Ms Truss has pledged to scrap April’s National Insurance rise, cancel a planned corporation tax rise and temporarily suspend green levies on energy bills.
Asked by the Financial Times about how she would help households faced with fuel bills due to rise again in October, she said: “Of course I will look at what more can be done. But the way I would do things is in a Conservative way of lowering the tax burden, not giving out handouts.”
Questioned later about these comments, she said: “What I’m about as a Conservative is people keeping more of their own money, growing the economy so we avoid a recession and the best way to do that is lower taxes, but also unleashing investment into our economy.”
I look forward to “unleashing investment” - it sounds spectacular, like “letting slip the dogs of war” …
Meanwhile:
Bumper profits of nearly £50bn shared by the world’s five biggest oil companies prompted a chorus of calls for higher taxes on the sector as UK households were told to brace for average annual energy bills of more than £3,600 this winter.
The UK firm BP was accused of “unfettered profiteering” after it said on Tuesday underlying profits had tripled to $8.5bn (£6.9bn) between April and June, thanks to high oil prices. It was its biggest quarterly profit in 14 years and BP said it would hand out nearly £4bn to shareholders as a result.
I would strongly advise you to avoid such a negative impact on your mental health and sit down for a while. Do not cross and uncross your legs in agitation because this makes it worse. However, remaining seated is also bad for DVT so I would suggest some gentle exercise. Hand gestures work well as a warm up.
Simon Hoare, the Conservative MP for North Dorset, said: “So, 2 ‘misinterpretations’ in a few days!! The country needs a serious PM who doesn’t make it up as it goes along.”
I despair of this woman. How can “no handouts” possibly be misinterpreted? She should mean what she says, and say what she means. Instead she is blowing around in the wind depending on applause or backlash.
