MADRID, 21 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The outgoing Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss, has the right for having lived in Downing Street to claim expenses worth up to 115,000 pounds (about 131,000 euros), a concession that the opposition has already asked her to renounce, taking into account of his brief stay in power.
The Public Services Cost Allowance (PDCA) emerged in 1991, following the resignation of Margaret Thatcher, so that the public coffers would take care of the expenses associated with the official activities of former leaders .
The pension is, in reality, a reimbursement for expenses related to office or secretarial services. The Government stipulates on its website that “all former prime ministers” are entitled to this aid, regardless of how long they have been in office or the circumstances of their departure.
Currently, a limit of 115,000 pounds is established, frozen since 2011 and authorized again for the period 2022-2023. If the beneficiary accepts another public position, the rule establishes that the amount to which he is entitled will be reviewed.
Labor Party leader Keir Starmer has argued on the BBC that Truss “has not earned the right” to the aid, as he announced his resignation on Thursday after just six weeks in office. He will leave Downing Street next week and will become the person who has held the head of government in the United Kingdom for the shortest time.
The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Ed Davey, also considers that the outgoing leader cannot have a pension that, for ordinary citizens, only comes “after a lifetime of work.” “Many people have to work at least 35 years to have a full pension,” he explained on the LBC station.
The latest data available, corresponding to the period 2020-2021, shows that both John Major and Tony Blair claimed the full amount from the State. Gordon Brown asked for just under 115,000 pounds, David Cameron about 113,000 and Theresa May, who is still an MP, about 57,000.