The new health secretary and deputy prime minister, Thérèse Coffey, has defended Liz Truss from criticism that she has appointed a “cabinet of chums”. The prime minister is accused of making appointments to reward longstanding friendships and loyalty in the leadership contest, rather than competence. Coffey said it was the most diverse cabinet ever. “A lot of the people taking up roles will show that they’ve been considered, that they’ve been competent and compassionate, in how they have approached politics,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “I know that Liz,” she said – before adding she must now remind herself to call her friend the prime minister – “is very keen to ensure we have focused delivery and belief that we can get on and deliver the plan that she had set out.”
Even though the new attorney general, Michael Ellis, was the only supporter of Truss’s defeated leadership rival, Rishi Sunak, in the new cabinet, Coffey told Sky News it was a government of “all the talents that we have in this party”. She said it was a mix of Truss’s “proactive” supporters and people who “did not support her as well”. Truss’s plans to freeze energy prices were being finalised, Coffey told Today, with the prime minister less than 24 hours in the job. Although a lot of work had been under way, she said, “this is the time to make sure all the different levers that could be pulled are being checked”.
Detailed plans would be revealed later this week, though Coffey did not confirm they would be set out in full on Thursday. Questions remain over how Truss’s price freeze policy – a package estimated to cost more than £100bn – will be funded. Asked if this vast expense would ultimately mean money going to big business from current taxpayers, their children and grandchildren, Coffey said: “What I would say is that we need to get growing, and there are three key parts to the prime minister’s priorities that she set out yesterday: about growing the economy, about making sure that we tackle this energy challenge not only on bills but making sure we get the supply of energy really operating a lot more effectively and quickly, as well as the NHS.” Coffey has set out her priorities in the department of health as “A, B, C, D” – ambulances, backlog, care and doctors and dentists. With Truss’s plans to reverse the rise in national insurance to pay for health and social care, Coffey said it would now be funded out of “general taxation”. She said she would not be charging people for missed appointments with their GPs. Asked if she would use private companies to help clear the backlog, she said she needed to use all the capacity there was in the healthcare system. Coffey, who is Catholic and has voted against abortion law reform, said she would not seek to undo any aspect of abortion law. She told Sky News: “I’m conscious I have voted against abortion laws. What I will say is I’m the complete democrat and that is done, so it’s not that I’m seeking to undo any aspects of abortion laws.” She added: “There is nothing more to say or see here.”