BoJo’s Plan to Slash Civil Service Will Leave It Too Tiny to Do Post-Brexit Paperwork, Unions Warn

Media first reported on government plans to cut up to 91,000 civil service jobs last month, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson comparing the measures to households’ and businesses’ cost-cutting amid the inflation squeeze. The cuts are projected to save the government up to 3.5 billion pounds, freeing up cash for tax cuts.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans to take a machete to the civil service would leave Whitehall understaffed and unable to handle bureaucratic paperwork related to Britain’s exit from the European Union, the Trades Union Congress, a 5.5 million-member strong confederation of English and Welsh trade unions, has warned.

In an analysis of the plans, which are expected to affect up to 91,000 people, and pare down the civil service by 20 percent by 2025, the TUC warned that the cuts would be “deeper than the deepest point” of former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s austerity measures of the 2010s, which sparked a series of strikes by civil servants and other public sector workers between 2013 and 2015.

“The cuts under George Osborne set a record for the smallest civil service since the Second World War. If these cuts go ahead, they will break that record”, TUC wrote.

Steven Littlewood, assistant general secretary of the FDA, a trade union representing senior and middle civil service management, told the TUC that “given the new responsibilities the government has post-Brexit for areas like borders, customs and agriculture it is impossible to see how it can provide the services it currently is with the proposed job losses”.

“The government needs to be honest about what services it would cut if it reduces numbers”, Littlewood said.

Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect, a trade union representing engineers, managers, scientists, and other specialists in the public and private sectors, said “areas of the civil service and its agencies are already struggling with increased duties following Brexit,” and urged the government to “think again”.

“We have seen imports going unchecked because of the lack of capacity and an increasing mismatch between the size of the armed forces and the vital civil support staff who help them to operate effectively", he said.

TUC says the UK has more than 475,000 full-time civil servants at the moment, with 96,000 of them working in justice services, including courts, prisons, victim support services, etc. 84,000 work in welfare and pension services. 64,000 work in revenue and customs, while the Ministry of Defence has 56,000 staff (equivalent to more than a quarter of the British Armed Forces’ own 198,880 service personnel). 33,000 civil servants work in the Home Office.

The confederation of trade unions warned that there were “no easy places to make cuts without consequences that will harm UK families and businesses”, and that “some services may have to be stopped altogether”, leaving Britain vulnerable to “a future pandemic”, or “attacks on our allies or cyber-attacks on the UK by hostile countries like Russia”.

UK media reported on government civil service cut plans in mid-May, citing a leaked letter from Cabinet Secretary Simon Case to his colleagues demanding a 20 percent cut to the bureaucratic workforce.

The cost-cutting measure is expected to net the state up to 3.5 billion pounds in savings, freeing up resources for tax cuts and other measures.

Prime Minister Johnson justified the cuts in a letter to civil servants late last month, saying the government “no longer require[s] the state to have the same colossal presence in people’s lives” that it did under EU rules and during the COVID pandemic.

“We must ensure the cost of government is no greater than absolutely necessary to deliver for the people we serve. And as many families and businesses now look at how to reduce their costs in a period of higher global inflation, it is right that we do the same”, Johnson said.

Mark Serwotka, general Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union – the largest civil service union in the UK, warned Johnson that his union would “fight for every job in the civil service. Not just on behalf of our members but on behalf of every member of the public who relies on the services they provide”.