The Prime Minister seemed set to scale back HS2 amid announcements on cutting the size of the Civil Service and imposing tougher benefits conditions.
Rishi Sunak made a pitch to the Tory right with plans to scale back HS2, slash the Civil Service and impose tougher benefits conditions as Liz Truss presented a threat.
He announced a cap on Whitehall hiring to save up to £1 billion a year and ordered plans to shrink the number of officials back to pre-pandemic levels. The Prime Minister seemed set to axe the Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2, a bugbear of some Tories over its vast cost and impact on rural constituents.Ms Truss was courting vast support among the party membership that selected her over Mr Sunak last summer, before the chaotic implosion of her 49-day premiership.
The MP called for cuts to corporation tax and regulation as she urged members to “unleash their inner conservative”.Other groups on the right of the party were also gathering momentum, as the New Conservatives set out proposals to ban “gender ideology” being taught in schools at a standing room-only event.
“If we increase public-sector productivity growth by just half-a-percent, we can stabilise public spending as a proportion of GDP,” he said.Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect union, said the move was a U-turn from a previous commitment from Mr Sunak that there would be no top-down targets for headcount reduction.
He said the plan was “fantasy politics of the worst kind” and indicated it could damage relations between officials and ministers, as happened under former prime minister Boris Johnson.
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