Yvette Cooper has branded Liz Truss a “total disgrace” after she can be heard saying in a leaked audio that British workers the “worst idlers in the world.”
Cooper branded Truss as a “total disgrace” and slammed her saying she has “absolutely no idea” over the plight of the working class.
Truss was caught out saying that “productivity” is “very different in London from the rest of the country.”
Cooper said, “Do you know, it is a total disgrace what Liz Truss has said. I think it reveals what she really thinks.
“This comes after the proposal she put forward to cut public sector pay in the north and other parts of the country so that teaching assistants and nurses here in Yorkshire would get paid less than people in London or the southeast.
“And she has also now just said that people should be working harder outside of London. She has absolutely no idea that people are working incredibly hard.
“There are people who are getting up to go to their shifts right now working incredibly hard to make ends meet, facing these nightmare inflation figures, these soaring energy bills, and doing their best to keep everything together.
“And what they’ve been given is this insult that just shows Liz Truss does not understand working people right across the country and it is deeply wrong of her to say this.”
The audio to which Cooper had referred to was recorded in 2019 when Truss was No 2 at the Treasury.
Truss was discussing ideas in the book Britannia Unchained, which she co-authored in 2012, this is where she called British workers the “worst idlers in the world.”
In the leaked audio, Truss said, “I once wrote a book about this which got mischaracterised – British workers produce less per hour than … and that’s a combination of kind of skill and application.
“If you look at productivity, it’s very, very different in London from the rest of the country. But basically … this has been a historical fact for decades.
“Essentially it’s partly a mindset and attitude thing, I think. It’s working culture, basically. If you go to China it’s quite different, I can assure you.”
“There’s a fundamental issue of British working culture. Essentially, if we’re going to be a richer country and a more prosperous country, that needs to change. But I don’t think people are that keen to change that.
“There’s a slight thing in Britain about wanting the easy answers. That’s my reflection on the election and what’s gone before it, and the referendum – we say it’s all Europe that’s causing these huge problems … it’s all these migrants causing these problems. But actually what needs to happen is more … more graft. It’s not a popular message.”
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