Truss Feels Heat After U-Turn Over £9bn In Cuts

Liz Truss suffered a humiliating setback in her attempt to become the next prime minister yesterday as she was forced into a U-turn on civil service pay after a backlash from within her own party.

- Heather Stewart and Jessica Elgot

The foreign secretary swiftly abandoned the cornerstone of her plan for a "war on Whitehall waste" when it was revealed it could lead to pay cuts for millions of teachers, nurses and police officers.

The foreign secretary had proposed creating "regional pay boards" to set civil sector pay, matching it more closely to local labour markets outside London and the southeast.

But it was scrapped within hours after analysts pointed out the purported £8.8bn saving from the policy was only remotely achievable by cutting wages across the public sector.

With ballot papers dropping this week, Truss is widely regarded as the frontrunner in the race to succeed Boris Johnson; but one new poll put her just five points ahead of Rishi Sunak, while Conservative MPs say many members remain undecided. The Teesside mayor, Ben Houchen, a popular figure within the party and a Sunak backer, said he was "speechless" at the policy, which he said would work against the much-trailed Conservative policy of levelling up.

"There is simply no way you can do this without a massive pay cut for 5.5 million people - including nurses, police officers and our armed forces outside London. So much that we've worked for in places like Teesside would be undone," he said.

"Red wall" MPs including Jacob Young and Richard Holden had also raised alarm at the policy announced overnight, as well as the former cabinet minister Simon Hart, who said it would amount to cuts of nearly £3,000 for workers in Wales.