The PM failed, not the civil servants
Public sector unions consider strike action
GATHERING for a cabinet away-day on thursday, tory ministers had few ideas about how they would respond to the cost of living crisis affecting the daily lives of millions.
They were also desperate to stop being harangued about the staggering 100 fixed penalty notices issued to Downing Street officials who wrote and broke the lockdown rules we all lived under during the Covid-19 pandemic.
What better idea to distract attention than announce you will sack one in five of the country’s civil servants.
The move, ministers claim, could save billions of pounds.
But, then, so would a tax on the profits of North Sea oil companies and whatever happened to that £350million a week we were meant to save by not being in the EU?
Clearly, the Tories don’t have the pinstriped “Yes, Minister” Whitehall mandarins in their sight for a cull.
It is the public servants who keep the country running who will be the targets.
If you are applying for a passport, waiting in vain for a driving test or trying to get an appointment about your benefits and work situation, the Tory government’s redundancy wheeze is going to affect you.
The trade unions are in righteous fury and threatening to strike.
But that is exactly the reaction Downing Street wants.
Casting public servants as the bogeymen holding the country back while Prime Minister does nothing about the economic crisis is the aim here.
Distraction and diversion are the trademarks of Boris Johnson. He is trying to scapegoat public sector staff for his own very public failings.
THE SNP has condemned plans by the Prime Minister to cut 90,000 civil service jobs.
The party’s deputy Westminster leader, Kirsten Oswald, said the plans are “detached from reality”.
Oswald, the MP for East Renfrewshire, said Scotland could be hit hard by the “staggering” proposals.
The SNP claimed more than 6000 reserved jobs in the civil service in Scotland have been cut since 2011.
This is 20 per cent of the workforce, the party says, which is nearly double the UK average of 11 per cent.
Oswald added: “As families and households up and down the country are terrified to open their bills and face soaring energy and shopping prices, threatening a fifth of civil service staff with the sack is shameful.”
A UK Government spokesman said: “It is misleading to say the UK Government has cut 6000 civil service jobs in Scotland... a number of UK civil servants from reserved departments have transferred to the Scottish Government in the past decade to fulfil similar roles.”
Boris Johnson faces the threat of a national public sector strike over the plan.
PCS Scotland tweeted: “We will defend jobs and public services by any means necessary, including strike action. It’s not just for our members but for the public, who rely on the vital services that PCS members deliver day in, day out.”
Mark Serwotka, of the Public and Commercial Services union, said the cuts would affect anyone relying on public services. He said: “Our members will not be the scapegoats for a failing Government. We have our conference in 10 days’ time. Taking national strike action is very much on the table.”
Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect union, said the proposal represented “an outrageous act of vandalism on our public services”.
Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA, which represents senior civil servants, responded: “These cuts appear more like a continuation of the Government’s civil service culture wars, or even worse, illthought out, rushed job slashes that won’t lead to a more costeffective government.”