Sir Keir Starmer calls on Liz Truss to decline £115,000 annual allowance for former PMs

Sir Keir Starmer has called on Liz Truss to decline an annual allowance of up to £115,00 given to former prime ministers to help them fund their public duties.

Despite resigning after 44 days in office and becoming the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, Ms Truss is still eligible to claim the entitlement.

Asked whether it is morally right for Ms Truss to accept the entitlement, the Labour leader said: “No, she shouldn’t take that entitlement after 44 days.”

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He added: “She has not earned the right to that entitlement. In my view, she should turn it down.”

The prime minister’s spokeswoman did not respond to a question about whether Ms Truss would take the £115k annual allowance, other than to point to the convention that the allowance is “available” to former PMs.

The public duties cost allowance (PDCA) has been offered to former prime ministers since 1991 after the resignation of Margaret Thatcher.

The PDCA guidance states that the allowance is a reimbursement of incurred expenses for necessary office costs and secretarial costs arising from a former prime minister’s special position in public life and that the sum is not paid to support private or parliamentary duties.

The PCDA has a financial limit which was originally set to align with the staffing allowance for MPs’ offices.

The limit is set at £115,000 and has remained frozen since 2011.

The limit is reviewed by the prime minister at the start of every parliament and annually.

All former prime ministers are eligible to draw on the PDCA.

The allowance is paid from the Cabinet Office and administered by the Cabinet Office finance team.

In a resignation statement read outside Downing Street, Ms Truss admitted she could not deliver her mandate.

“I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability,” she said.

“Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills.”

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A new Conservative leader and prime minister will be elected by next Friday.

Ms Truss will remain as prime minister until her successor has been chosen.