Explainer-in-brief: Job-cutting government takes aim at civil service
Boris Johnson is considering reducing the number of civil servants by more than 90,000, reaching an even lower level than what was planned pre-Brexit.
Formal discussions will start next week, and will likely intensify tensions between ministers and civil servants. Relations have been strained recently, worsened by the row on working from home sparked by Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments on civil servants’ alleged laziness.
Mogg, the minister for government efficiency, has come out to say that these cuts have nothing to do with austerity, but are instead paramount to save money that should be used to help people with the cost of living crisis.
The move could save around £3.5bn a year.
But cutting staff by a fifth, according to the head of the civil servants’ union, “is not a serious way” to look at government policy.