Here’s a bespoke one designed for co-conspirators: Liz Truss is pledging to wage a war on Whitehall waste to save taxpayers billions. Something Guido’s campaigned on for who knows how long…
Number one in her list of priorities is finally scrapping diversity and inclusion jobs, making sure officials actually focus on delivery
Billions, she says, will be saved by replacing National Pay Boards with Regional Pay Boards
There’s some confusion over this figure, given the total civil service salary budget is around £16.5 billion
The press release specifies the £8.8 billion figure is “the potential savings if the system were to be adopted for all public sector workers in the long term.”
£557 million will be saved building on the 22,000 civil servants already moved out of the capital by 2030, and scrapping their London allowances
Truss will also rein in public sector leave entitlements, scrapping legacy Privilege Days and capping the media holiday allowance to 25 days, saving £2 billion
The usual suspects are challenging the figures and raging. Guido thinks Liz should paint it on the side of a bus. All Tories are hearing is billions in savings from a bloated civil service.
Plus
Liz tells The Mail she’ll scrap plans to ban buy-one-get-one-free deals in supermarkets, attacking them as nanny state plans
In other news:
Liz Truss had another good night at Exeter’s hustings last night, though the audience seemed more pro-Rishi from the off according to hacks in the room, and he probably came out on top
The evening’s performance was opened by her latest star endorsement, Penny Mordaunt, who said Truss is “for me is the hope candidate and that is why I am here tonight.”
The Telegraph formally endorsed Liz
In other surprise endorsement news, Truss receives the backing of West Midlands Metro Mayor Andy Street, setting him apart from fellow Tory Metro Mayor in Teesside Ben Houchen – a Rishi supporter
During the husting, Liz promised to “channel the spirit of the Lionesses”
At the same time The Mail revealed Spice Girl Emma Bunton Geri Halliwell told her at the England match to “go for it!”
No doubt north of the border they’ll be talking about Liz’s statement that her approach to dealing with Sturgeon will be “ignore her… she’s an attention seeker.”
Plus
Liz tells The Mail she’ll scrap plans to ban buy-one-get-one-free deals in supermarkets, attacking them as nanny state plans
Today’s new policy:
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In other news:
Probably won last night’s debate
The Telegraph claims it “was arguably Rishi Sunak’s most compelling performance of the campaign to date”
He even had a Cameron-esque “taking a risk, having a punt, having a go, that’s what pumps me up” moment over corporation tax
His team have been heartened by a new poll from Techne, which suggests Liz’s lead is substantially smaller than previous polls, at just 5%