The civil service’s salary bill has risen by 60%, or £5.8 billion, in just seven years, with most of this extra cash going straight into the pockets of the highest earning mandarins. This brings Whitehall’s total pay bill to, take a deep breath, £15.5 billion pounds. Similarly, the total number of civil servants has risen by 101,440 over the same period. It’s the largest increase in over half a century.

These findings come through research from the Taxpayers’ Alliance after the most recent set of headcount figures proved disappointing. This all comes despite the government’s repeated pledges to cut waste – and Steve Barclay’s best efforts. To make matters worse, the government doesn’t seem to be delivering on levelling up regions by moving government jobs: the number of civil servants in London grew by 33%, more than any other region. John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

“With the tax burden at near-record levels, taxpayers are paying through the nose for the boom in public sector employment. What’s more, there is a growing sense that public services are worse than before the hiring spree, not better.  Only once politicians start to be honest about what the state can reasonably be expected to do can we wind down functions and scrap unnecessary jobs.”

Speaking of unnecessary jobs, how’s Jeremy Hunt’s equality, diversity and inclusion clampdown coming along?