SIR KEIR STARMER has joined calls for Liz Truss to turn down an annual allowance of up to £115,000 a year, which she can claim for the rest of her life, despite serving just 44 days as PM.

The Labour leader said it would be the “right thing to do” for Ms Truss to decline the allowance. 

“She’s done 44 days in office, she’s not really entitled to it, she should turn it down and not take it,” he told ITV today.

Ms Truss’s eligibility for the whopping grant after her short stint in office has sparked fury among trade union leaders, campaigners and opposition MPs. 

Civil servants’ union PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “At a time when one in five civil servants are using foodbanks and 35 per cent have skipped meals because they have no food, it’s grotesque that Liz Truss can walk away with what is effectively a £115,000 bonus.

“The next prime minister must give civil servants, who work hard on essential services, an above-inflation pay rise.”

Ms Truss can claim the grant under the Public Duties Cost Allowance (PDCA), which was introduced after former PM Margaret Thatcher resigned in 1991. 

The allowance is designed to support former PMs in their public duties after they leave office, according to government guidance. 

Former PMs John Major and Tony Blair both claimed the maximum allowance in 2020-2021.

The PDCA is estimated to cost the taxpayer up to £700,000 per year, including pension contributions.

Lib Dem cabinet office spokeswoman Christine Jardine said: “Liz Truss will forever be known as the 50-day prime minister.

“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.

“To make matters worse, Truss’s legacy is an economic disaster — for which the Conservatives are making taxpayers foot the bill.

“For Truss to walk off into the sunset with a potential six-figure dividend, while leaving the British public to suffer, would be unconscionable.

“This huge potential pay out will leave a bitter taste in the mouth of the millions of people struggling with spiralling bills and eye-watering mortgage rate rises thanks to the Conservatives’ economic mismanagement.”