TORY leadership favourite Liz Truss called for patients to be charged to see their GP and for doctors’ pay to be cut, an unearthed document can reveal.
In a pamphlet she co-authored in 2009 while working as deputy director of the Reform think tank Truss also said she wanted to see universal child benefit abolished.
The document, entitled “Back to Black”, was written with six other people while Labour was in government at Westminster.
It detailed proposals that would significantly cut public spending, such as introducing “user charges for GPs”.
Furthermore, it suggested that “there should be greater reliance on other health professionals for treating less serious ailments”.
The report also stated that the government should “reduce the pay of doctors and NHS managers by 10%” and that universal child benefit should be scrapped and instead “be targeted on families with low incomes”.
Commenting on the report a spokesperson for Liz Truss’s campaign said: Co-authoring a document does not mean that someone supports every proposal put forward.
“Liz is focused on her bold economic plan to boost growth, cut taxes and put money back into hardworking people’s pockets”.
There are fears the report could hint at Truss’s ideological approach to problems such as child poverty should she become the next prime minister.
Last year the Scottish Government introduced the Scottish Child Payment to try and tackle child poverty rates.
The payment was subsequently doubled in April 2022 after charities hailed the scheme as a “game-changer” and a “crucial lifeline to many with young children”.
At the Conservative Party hustings in Perth earlier this week, Rishi Sunak criticised the Scottish Government for putting more funding into the welfare system.
He also detailed plans for greater oversight of Scottish Government spending by Westminster, claiming he would be “proud” to bypass Holyrood to deliver infrastructure projects in Scotland.
