Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the UK has told his Cabinet that to ease the cost of living in the country, Minister has to cut off some of their staff resulting in the loss of around 90 000 jobs.
Johnson is understood to have tasked the Cabinet with cutting staff by a fifth, ordering it to return civil servant numbers to those of 2016 in the coming years, with staffing having increased by almost 25 percent to 475 000 full-time equivalent jobs, telling them every bit of cash saved on government spending could be better used elsewhere.
He also hinted at future tax cuts, suggesting the billions saved from reducing civil servant numbers could help fund such measures.
According to the Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the government is trying to get the civil service back to normal after taking on extra people for specific tasks including COVID-19 and Brexit.
“The only bit that is ideological is that we should spend taxpayers’ money properly and not wastefully.
It’s about doing things properly. It’s about governing effectively and recognizing that every penny we take in tax has to come off the backs of people working hard.
Moreso, there will be efficiencies that you can get in some departments through increased automation, increased use of technology, which is something that all sensible businesses will be doing perfectly reasonable,” said the Minister.
However, Mike Clancy, the General Secretary of the Prospect Union said the PM’s proposal was outrageous and damaging.
“Through Brexit and then the pandemic we have never been more reliant in peacetime on our civil service. Our members are highly skilled and there is a real risk to government delivery from losing their vital expertise.
They are vital to what the government wants to do, whether that is levelling up or pandemic recovery. For them, these cuts to jobs come on the back of significant real-term cuts in pay. The big cuts to public services since 2010 have often proved an expensive error these proposals risk doubling down on the mistake,” said Clancy.
