Starmer leads calls for Truss to turn down £115,000 annual allowance granted to former PMs

The Labour leader said it would be ‘the right thing to do’ for PM to turn down grant after just 44 days in office

Keir Stamer has said Liz Truss should turn down the allowance of up to £115,000 a year she will be entitled to as a former prime minister.

The Labour leader told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “She should turn it down. I think that’s the right thing to do.

“She’s done 44 days in office, she’s not really entitled to it, she should turn it down and not take it.”

Despite having the shortest tenure of any prime minister in history, Ms Truss is able to claim the money from the public duty costs allowance (PDCA).

It was introduced in 1991, in the wake of the resignation of Margaret Thatcher, to support former prime ministers in their public duties after they leave office.

The Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey has also called for the soon-to-be ex-prime minister to turn down the stipend.

Asked if she deserves the payment, he told LBC Radio: “No. Most people have to work at least 35 years to get a full state pension.

“I think working 45 days shouldn’t give you a pension that is many many times what ordinary people out there get after a lifetime of work.”

Lib Dem Cabinet Office spokesperson Christine Jardine added that it would be “unconscionable” if Ms Truss were to receive the fund after such a short time in office.

“Liz Truss will forever be known as the 50-day prime minister. There is no way that she should be permitted to access the same £115,000-a-year for life fund as her recent predecessors – all of whom served for well over two years,” she said.

“To make matters worse, Truss’s legacy is an economic disaster – for which the Conservatives are making taxpayers foot the bill.

“For Truss to walk off into the sunset with a potential six-figure dividend, while leaving the British public to suffer, would be unconscionable.

“This huge potential payout will leave a bitter taste in the mouth of the millions of people struggling with spiralling bills and eye-watering mortgage rate rises thanks to the Conservatives’ economic mismanagement.”

Additional reporting by PA