Liz Truss has prolonged her lead over Rishi Sunak amongst Tory members, based on a brand new ballot, after the international secretary U-turned on a plan to hyperlink public sector pay to regional residing prices.
On Monday evening, the management race frontrunner mentioned she would save £8.8bn by introducing regional pay boards as an alternative of nationwide ones to set salaries for civil servants, reflecting the place they lived.
But specialists warned that to succeed in the sum, the plan must department out additional than authorities departments, with the likes of academics, nurses, and law enforcement officials additionally receiving decrease pay than employees within the South.
It led to outrage from Conservative MPs, and by lunchtime right now – lower than 24 hours later – Ms Truss’ workforce had launched an announcement saying the coverage wouldn’t be taken ahead.
Politics Hub: Sunak allies assault Truss public sector pay plan
A press release insisted “current levels of public sector pay will absolutely be maintained”, including: “Our hard-working frontline staff are the bedrock of society and there will be no proposal taken forward on regional pay boards for civil servants or public sector workers.”
Team Truss additionally claimed there had been a “wilful misrepresentation” of the coverage, however former Tory whip Mark Harper mentioned they need to “stop blaming journalists” for reporting on the small print in her personal press launch.
A Team Sunak supply pointed to comparisons made between Ms Truss and former PM Margaret Thatcher, twisting her well-known phrase for right now’s occasions: “The lady is for turning.”
While the influential Tory mayor of the Tees Valley, Ben Houchen, advised reporters the coverage can be “a sure-fire way to lose the next general election”.
The first main error from Ms Truss’s marketing campaign got here as Mr Sunak battles to make up floor throughout what’s a key week within the contest for the keys to No 10.
But the day ended on a excessive for Ms Truss following the publication of the most recent YouGov ballot of Conservative members, which exhibits she has prolonged her lead over Mr Sunak to 34 factors within the Tory management race.
The survey, carried out for The Times, finds that 60% of occasion members are actually saying they may vote for the international secretary to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister.
This is in comparison with simply 26% for former chancellor Mr Sunak.
The ballot, carried out during the last 5 days, exhibits that Ms Truss is now forward of Mr Sunak amongst all age teams, throughout totally different elements of the nation and with women and men.
The solely class the place he beats Ms Truss is amongst Tory Remain supporters.
The YouGov survey revealed right now additionally discovered that nearly 9 in 10 Conservative members have now made up their minds how they may vote forward of poll papers going out this week.
But it’ll concern each potential subsequent leaders that greater than 50% of occasion members believed that whoever was elected to succeed Mr Johnson would lose the occasion its majority on the subsequent election.
Just 19% of members thought Mr Sunak may lead the Tories to victory, whereas 39% thought Ms Truss may see off a problem from Labour.
As the management race continues to warmth up, candidates Mr Sunak and Ms Truss will as soon as once more face the cameras this week on Sky News.
Taking place on Thursday 4 August at 8pm at Sky Studios in west London, The Battle for Number 10, will see the candidates participate in back-to-back questioning from the stay studio viewers made up of Conservative Party members who stay largely undecided on who to vote for.
This will then be adopted by an in-depth interview with Kay Burley.
The programme will likely be broadcast stay for 90 minutes and without cost on Sky News channel 501, on Freeview 233, on Sky Showcase channel 106, and throughout Sky News’ digital channels.