Can Liz Truss be trusted?

Liz Truss has taken the lead in the Tory leadership race with an agenda that seems radical and ambitious, whereas Rishi Sunak appears to offer only elegantly managed decline. Truss promises instant relief from the rising cost of government; Sunak offers to reverse barely half of his own tax rises – and over the course of the rest of the decade. To promise more, he says, is to sell ‘fairytales’. Truss says a better future is possible with enough vision, ideas and, perhaps most importantly, resolve.

Ms Truss came up with a promising idea this week: regional pay boards, so that civil service salaries could be set relative to the local cost of living. For example, the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that public sector workers in the South East are paid 5 per cent less than private sector workers, as might be expected, given the greater job security and pensions.