Huge rise in civil servants – including 40pc more in foreign aid

THE number of civil servants has risen substantially for the first time since 2010.

Despite promises of cuts, four departments are larger than when the Tories took office.

The surge is led by the bloated foreign aid ministry, the Department for International Development (DfID), which has 38.7 per cent more staff than seven years ago – 2,220 from 1,600.

Across Whitehall there are now 391,640 officials, up 2 per cent over the past year.

The Institute for Government think-tank, which analysed the official statistics, says staff have increased for four quarters in a row for the first time since at least 2010. The IfG said much of the rise was down to Brexit, but growing strains on public services also required extra staff.

James Price, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpayers expect a lean and efficient civil service.’

But Bernard Jenkin, chairman of the Commons public administration committee, said: ‘The cost of the civil service is a small part of overall government spending.’

The other departments with more staff than in 2010 are the Cabinet Office (30.8 per cent larger), Transport (9.6 per cent) and Education (7.9 per cent).

The biggest reduction is at the Department of Health, where numbers have halved since 2010. The Department for Communities and Local Government is 43 per cent smaller.

Staff numbers at the Department for Exiting the EU grew by 20.5 per cent in the three months after Article 50 was triggered at the end of March.

‘Lean and efficient’

WHATEVER his many shortcomings as Chancellor, George Osborne got one thing right. To his great credit, he made steady progress slimming down the bloated bureaucracy and rebalancing the economy to give wealth-creating firms a chance.

True, he should have cut more swiftly when he had voters’ full support after the shock of the financial crisis. But he left a leaner state, with private businesses creating four jobs for every one shed from the public payroll.

So how depressing that figures unearthed by the Mail show the number of civil servants rising sharply for the first time in seven years.

Across Whitehall, there are now 390,000 officials – up 2 per cent on last year. The biggest growth (surprise, surprise!) was at the foreign aid department, where numbers have swollen by 39 per cent since 2010.

Meanwhile, figures this week show public sector workers still earn nearly £70 a week more than their counterparts in private business. That’s even before their goldplated pensions are taken into account. So much for the shroud-waving unions who demand an end to state pay restraint.

The truth is that the public sector is like Japanese knotweed. Cut it back, and it will spring up again at the first opportunity.

If Britain is to flourish after Brexit, it’s vital that the burden of the state is reduced. Chancellor Philip Hammond, take note.