Liz Truss Will Get a Taxpayer-Funded Allowance of $129K a Year for Life — Some Lawmakers Want to Block It

Mar. 15, 2025

Liz Truss.Photo: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg/getty

British Prime MinisterLiz Truss, whoannounced her resignation just 45 days into her premiershipon Thursday, is eligible to receive up to $129,000 USD a year for the rest of her life.

Former PMs John Major,Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron andTheresa Mayall claimed the allowance, but politicians have urged Truss to be denied the payment, or to turn it down, given her short stay in office. Truss' resignation this week puts her on track to become the shortest-serving prime minister in the nation’s history.

Rob Pinney/Getty

“There is no way that she should be permitted to access the same £115,000 a year for life fund as her recent predecessors — all of whom served for well over two years,” said Christine Jardine, the spokeswoman for the Cabinet Office of the Liberal Democrats, perThe New York Times.

Jardine added that Truss' legacy is an “economic disaster,” and that her getting paid would leave “a bitter taste in the mouth of the millions of people struggling with spiraling bills and eye-watering mortgage rate rises thanks to the Conservatives' economic mismanagement.”

Sir Keir Starmer, who leads the Labour Party, is in agreement that Truss, 47, has “not earned the right” to collect the money despite meeting criteria. “She shouldn’t take that entitlement,” he told BBC. “After 44 days she has not earned the right to that entitlement, she should turn it down.”

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey compared the PDCA to a “full state pension,” and said the sum was “many, many times” what workers would get when they retire, per LBC radio.

Major and Blair are the only two former PMs who revive the maximum yearly amount, which equates to £115,000, per theTimes, while Brown, Cameron and May accepted smaller amounts.Boris Johnsonis also eligible for the allowance, but it is unclear if he accepted the payments in July, as the information is not public yet.

With the Public Duty Costs Allowance, Truss could be bringing in an additional $12,900 per year if she chooses to cover the pension costs of her staff, per theTimes. As for its fine print, she also cannot claim the allowance “in advance of need,” or draw the money if she serves as the leader of Britain’s main opposition party.

Truss' resignation this week came one day after she claimed she was “a fighter and not a quitter.” She was selected to take on the role in September, two months after former Prime Minister Johnson agreed tostep down.

While her time in office has been short-lived, she became the third woman to take on the role of PM, behindMargaret Thatcher(1979–1990) andTheresa May(2016–2019), after she won 57% of the votes of Conservative Party members.

Two days after the monarch formallyappointed the prime minister to the roleat Balmoral Castle in Scotland,Queen Elizabeth II died. Critics argued after funeral processions were in the rearview that Truss wasn’t doing enough toprevent a financial crisis, as during her time in office, the value of the pound plunged while borrowing costs rose in response to tax cuts that would largely favor the wealthy.

Queen Elizabeth and British prime minister, Liz Truss, two days before she died.Jane Barlow - WPA Pool/Getty

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source: people.com