Civil service cull

London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered ministers to slash 91,000 civil service jobs to free up billions for tax cuts, the Daily Mail says.

Johnson gave his Cabinet one month to come up with plans to cut the size of the civil service by almost a fifth of the current total, which would save about £3.5 billion ($NZ6.83 billion) a year, the newspaper said.

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA, a union for public service managers and professionals, said in a tweet, ‘‘Unless they’ve got a serious plan, it’s either another headlinegrabbing stunt or a reckless slashandburn to public services without a thought or care about the consequences.’’ — Reuters