Liz Truss U-turns on plan to cut public sector pay outside London

Tory leadership frontrunner scraps plan for regional pay boards after outcry from Conservatives

• Politics live: latest updates

Liz Truss has been forced to U-turn on plans to cut civil service pay outside London after a furious outcry from Conservative MPs and the Conservative Tees Valley mayor.

Rishi Sunak's campaign called the policy a dramatic U-turn [which] reveals more than a change of heart" and said it could have a high cost to the party. If this was in a general election, it would have been a potentially fatal own goal for the Conservatives."