She also advocated for a number of other spending cuts
Thanks to some unearthed documents from 2009, it has been revealed that Prime Ministerial hopeful Liz Truss previously wanted patients to be charged for GP visits.
As well as advocating for a number of cuts on government spending, including slashing doctors’ pay by 10 per cent and abolishing universal child benefit, she also put forward the proposition of charging people for check-ups in a report she co-authored when acting as deputy director of the Reform think-tank.
EXCLUSIVE: Foreign Secretary Liz Truss wanted to cut doctors’ pay by 10%, charge all patients to see their GP, and take an axe to the Royal Navy’s two aircraft carriers.@tnewtondunn pic.twitter.com/Ztg46awmxr
— First Edition (@FirstEdition) August 18, 2022
Exposed by TalkTV, the papers were written shortly before she went on to become the Conservative MP for South West Norfolk in 2010. In the report entitled, ‘Back to Black’, she also suggested “end[ing] appropriate defence projects”, such as scrapping aircraft carriers which would have saved the government £2.7 billion.
Moreover, she also wanted to do away with what she called “pensioner gimmicks” like making TV licenses free for over-75s and the winter fuel payments which helps the elderly keep the heating during the colder months.
While the outlet didn’t reveal the document in its entirety, another item on the agenda was “introducing market rates for interest on student loans”. The Tories have previously floated the idea of a 12 per cent interest on student fees, with the current rate sitting 4.5%; interest rates for the lowest earners would jump from 1.5 to 9 per cent.
Distancing themselves from the comments, a spokesperson for Truss’ campaign simply rebuffed the story by saying “it was drawn up in a different age, an age of a Labour government”.
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