'Timing time bomb': Tory mayor 'speechless' over Liz Truss' plans to cut public sector wages

Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss makes facing a barrage of criticism over plans to cut public sector workers' wages outside London, with a Tory mayor describing it as a 'ticking time bomb'.

It comes after the Business Secretary foreigners - the favorite in the race to succeed Boris Johnson in Number 10 - has revealed proposals for a 'war on Whitehall waste' with savings worth £11billion.

< p>But Ms Truss's team were forced to admit they should replace national wage settlements with regional rewards for all public sector workers essentially savings over a period of years.

In a scathing assessment, Ben Houchen, the Tory Mayor of Tees Valley and supporter of his rival, Rishi Sunak, said he was "in fact speechless" over the plans.

"There's simply no way to do this without a massive wage cut for 5.5 million people, including nurses, police officers and armed forces outside of London," he said. claimed.

RecommendedLiz Truss' plan means lower wages for public service workers in poorer areas

"Liz Truss' campaign is explicit about the fact that their savings target is only possible "if the system were to be embraced by all public sector workers". It is a time bomb planted by Team Truss that will explode before the next general election. the plans which he said would 'kill' the government's leveling programme.

Steve Double - a Tory MP and Sunak supporter - added: 'It' is a terrible idea and would be extremely damaging to public services in Cornwall. This is a leveling down, not up.

Ms Truss originally promised to save up to £8.8billion a year by 'adjusting' civil servants' salaries to match the cost of living in areas where they work.

But aides were forced to change the demand after experts from the Institute for Government pointed out that the foreign secretary's target was almost equal to the total annual payroll civil service of around £9billion.

They clarified that regional pay would initially only be introduced for new entrants to the civil service, delivering only a tiny fraction of the sums claimed. If successful, it would be rolled out over several years to cover all public sector workers, with the £8.8 billion target only being reached in the long term.

Sunak supporter Ben Houchen says he is 'speechless' over Truss proposals

(Getty Images)

Mr. Sunak's team warned Mar...