Liz Truss called for patients to be charged for GP visits, 2009 paper reveals

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Liz Truss called for patients to be charged to see their GP and for doctors’ pay to be slashed by 10% in a pamphlet she co-authored in 2009, the unearthed document has revealed.

The Tory leadership frontrunner also wanted to see the universal child benefit abolished in the report, which she co-wrote with six other people when she was deputy director of the Reform thinktank.

TalkTV’s The News Desk reported on Thursday that the document entitled “Back to Black”, written when Labour was in government, reveals the authors’ proposals at the time to significantly shrink the state and cut government spending.

Under a section called “Introduce user charges for GPs”, the pamphlet says: “User charges should be introduced and there should be greater reliance upon other health professionals … for treating less serious ailments.”

“Reduce the pay of doctors and NHS managers by 10%,” the report continues.

“Abolish universal child benefit. Instead child benefit should be targeted on families on low incomes.”

It also calls for several major military procurement projects to be axed, including the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, which are described as “inappropriate defence projects” that “do not contribute to the UK’s modern defence requirements”.

During her leadership campaign, the foreign secretary has set out plans to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030.

It comes as Truss’s rival in the race for No 10 again warned her tax-cutting plans could stoke inflation and economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned that permanent tax cuts, which Truss has gone further in pledging than Rishi Sunak, could “exacerbate” pressures on public spending.

They cast doubt on the “plausibility” of the promises without spending cuts after inflation soared to 10.1%, setting a new 40-year high.

Truss’s campaign has been approached for comment on the 2009 report, which could hint at her ideological approach to government spending if she enters Downing Street in September.

Her campaign team told The News Desk: “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.”