By Alfie Hiller (Education Correspondent)
Edited by Ena Saracevic (Social Affairs Editor)
Potential future prime minister, Liz Truss, has vowed to slash the pay of public sector workers outside of London and the southeast as part of her “levelling down” plans. This would include the pay of teachers and nurses who have both experienced recent pay freezes.
Amid a cost of living crisis, with public sector workers more on edge than ever and a recession looming; PM hopeful Liz Truss has stated that she will be slashing the pay of public sector workers outside of London and the southeast. Truss’ war on unions and the public sector continues as she inexplicably seeks to save £11 billion at the expense of public sector workers or “Whitehall Waste." The majority of these savings - around £8.8 billion – is set to come from paying less money to workers from poorer areas of the country, rather than those in the southeast, where the cost of living is considerably higher.
Despite warnings by union leaders of a mass strike across the country, Truss has also pledged a ban on industrial action. With an estimated 5.5 million people projected to receive pay cuts as part of this plan, Tees Valley’s Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen has labelled this as a “ticking time bomb.”
So in her attempt to secure premiership by instigating a war on working people and the north, Truss can also expect “opposition every step of the way” by union leaders and MPs. One must also consider the detrimental impact this would have on the education system and the prospect of recruiting new teachers across the country. The mental health and well-being of teachers has been a major concern in recent times as they already experience high levels of stress as part of their workloads and reflective poor pay. In the UK, teachers have been reported to have spent at least 1.5 million days off work as a result of stress and mental health issues. This plan could only see that number rise and pupils up and down the country
will feel this burden as much as anyone.
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