The Return Of 'Trussonomics': Tories Rinsed Over New Plans To 'Save £47bn'

The Conservatives have unveiled new plans which they claim could save up to £47 billion to help “restore the country’s finances” – except their critics think they’ve heard this one before.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride is set to “recommit the Conservative Party to fiscal responsibility” on Monday in a major speech at the annual Tory conference in Manchester.

He is expected to say his party would cut the welfare bill, reduce the civil service and the foreign aid budget in the hope of delivering a “stronger economy” – part of the Tories’ new plan to win back voters after an abysmal year in the polls.

Stride will say that, if elected, the Tories would replace the “broken” welfare system and stop allowing anyone to claim for benefits if they only have low level mental health problems.

The Tories will also limit welfare to British citizens and – amid speculation Labour is going to scrap it – keep the two-child benefit cap in place.

This would supposedly save £23bn, with a further £8bn saved by cutting the civil service down to 2016 levels, taking it from its current levels of 517,000 employees to 384,000.

Even though Labour already sparked outrage by slashing the overseas aid budget in February this year, reducing it from 0.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 0.3%, the Tories want to deliver more “serious cuts”.

This would allegedly “save nearly £7bn”.

Together, with a plan to end all asylum hotels by removing everyone who arrives “illegally”, and ensuring benefits and social housing are for UK nationals only, the Tories would supposedly free up a further £7bn.

The party would also want to make £1.6m of savings from the “non-nuclear elements” of Ed Miliband’s ‘Great British Energy’ plan by cutting heat pump subsidies, electric vehicle grant subsidies and savings on the Warm Homes Schemes.

But, many critics were quick to point out how the new plan reminds them of the time the Tories sent the economy into chaos under Liz Truss, when she unveiled £45bn of unfunded tax cuts in a disastrous mini-Budget.

Mel Stride himself also oversaw a large increase in benefits spending while he was work and pensions secretary, while civil service numbers increased every quarter between May 2022 and July 2024 under the last Tory government.

Labour chair Anna Turley said: “The Tories let welfare bills, civil service numbers and asylum hotel use skyrocket on their watch – and they’ve never apologised.

“Now they want to rehash failed promises from their failed manifesto to try to solve the problems they caused. 

“This is the same old Tories, with the same old policies. They didn’t work then and you can’t trust them now. ”

The Liberal Democrats also hit out at the plans by comparing it to Truss’s disastrous policies.

Lib Dem Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “It’s clear the Conservative party learnt absolutely nothing from their disastrous handling of the economy, which left families struggling with a cost of living crisis and public services on their knees.

“Cutting vital support to bring household bills down, trying to balance the books on the backs of people with mental health conditions, and slashing the UK’s soft power abroad through aid budget cuts shows Trussonomics is still in full swing.”

She added: “The Conservatives have run out of ideas, and they’re running out of road.”

Romilly Greenhill, the CEO of Bond – the UK network for organisations working in international development – also warned that this was a “morally indefensible” move and call for a “rethink”.

She said: “The Conservatives’ deplorable decision to slash the already diminished UK aid budget even further is reckless, short-sighted, and morally indefensible. It undermines our legal obligations and signals the Conservatives want the UK to retreat even further as a trusted global partner.”

Greenhill warned marginalised communities will “once again pay the price,” particularly women, girls and those in areas of conflict.

She added: “Slashing the UK aid budget even further will put our long-term national security at risk by dismantling the very systems that prevent the escalation of conflict, tackles the root causes of poverty and climate change, and protect us against future pandemics.”