Liz Truss and Kwarteng should get pay docked for ‘gross mismanagement’, say Lib Dems

Liz Truss and chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng face a move in the Commons to have their pay docked over their “disastrous” mini-Budget and handling of the economy.

The Liberal Democrats said they will table a censure motion in parliament calling for action on how much they are paid as ministers

Sir Ed Davey’s party has proposed that Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng have their ministerial salaries cut in half over “gross mismanagement of the public finances”.

The move would see Ms Truss lose £40,000 and Mr Kwarteng £33,750 from their annual salary for one year.

Christine Jardine, the Lib Dems’ Cabinet Office spokesperson, said they enjoyed “lucrative salaries” while Britons were panicking over mortgage rates and other soaring bills. “In any other workplace, they would have been dismissed for gross incompetence,” she said.

Ms Jardine added: “Given the billions of pounds worth of public money wasted on this fiasco, taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to fund their salaries in full. Frankly this out of touch government has cost hard-pressed Brits more than enough already.”

Ms Truss is under renewed pressure as Tory critics who forced a humiliating U-turn over the plan to abolish the 45p tax rate for top earners are now stepping up pressure on her to boost benefits in line with inflation.

The prime minister would not say directly if she trusted her chancellor in an awkward exchange with broadcasters earlier on Tuesday.

Pressed twice if she trusted Mr Kwarteng, Ms Truss said: “I work very, very closely with my chancellor. We’re very focused on getting the economy going.”

Labour’s shadow Treasury minister Pat McFadden responded: “The fact that the prime minister can’t even say she trusts her chancellor tells you all you need to know about the architects of the economic chaos into which they have plunged the country.”

He added: “Instead of disowning the problem and blaming one another they must put the country first and abandon their discredited trickle-down approach.”

Former Tory leaders William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith are the latest senior figures to have voiced their concerns about the prospect of real-terms benefit cuts after the PM refused to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation.

Mr Hague said the “political reality” meant Ms Truss would have to change course on benefits, while Mr Duncan Smith said it “doesn’t make any sense” to allow a real-terms cut.

Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt broke ranks on Tuesday and said it “makes sense” to increase benefits in line with inflation, rather than wages.

But Cabinet Office minister Brendan Clarke-Smith told Times Radio that one-off direct payments might be a better to combat poverty this winter than raising benefits in line with inflation.

“It may be that the rise in line with inflation isn’t the right thing. And actually, giving something direct, like a direct payment is a far better way of doing it,” he said.

David Frost – a leading Truss backer – said the government’s pro-growth agenda was “the right thing” but was “going about it in quite an amateurish, bungling way”.

On axing the 45p top rate of tax mistake, Lord Frost told LBC: “It would have been better if this had not been part of the package. They need to find ways of avoiding making these unnecessary political errors.”