Boris Johnson to slash 91,000 civil service jobs

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has directed his ministers to cut down 91,000 civil service jobs. The decision is taken to reduce the government spending and to free up billions for tax cuts.

Decision amid inflationary pressures

The rising inflation in UK is becoming a challenge for the government. Moreover, the inflationary pressures are mounting on the people. Johnson’s government is trying to find ways to cut costs at a time as millions of people in Britain are struggling with increasing food and fuel bills. According to Daily Mail, Johnson has given one month to his ministers to devise a plan to reduce the size of civil service. Moreover, the PM want to squeeze the size of civil service by one-fifth of its current total. The move will save about £3.5 billion per year.

“The PM and ministers are clear that the civil service does an outstanding job delivering for the public and driving progress on the government’s priorities. But when people and businesses across the country are facing rising costs, the public rightly expect their government to lead by example and run as efficiently as possible.” Johnson’s spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

PM’s stance

There is a risk of Britain slipping into a recession. Therefore, the government is facing the pressure to provide more support to households facing rising costs. The government spent billions of pounds to respond to Coronavirus and their finances are at stretch. Therefore, the government is now looking to reduce their expenses to support the population. “We need to get back into the habit of getting into the office, getting into the workplace. There will be lots of people who disagree with me, but I believe people are more productive, more energetic, more full of ideas, when they are surrounded by other people.” The PM told to Daily Mail.

Unions are protesting against the decision

However, the public service unions did not take the decision very well and termed it as a non-serious plan. “Unless they’ve got a serious plan, it’s either another headline-grabbing stunt or a reckless slash-and-burn to public services without a thought or care about the consequences.” Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA, a union for public service managers and professionals posted in his tweet.

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