Policy Exchange has just dropped a new report by ex-Home Office director Stephen Webb estimating that £5 billion a year could be saved by cutting 80,000 roles in the civil service. That could reverse the family farm tax, from which the Treasury hopes to bring in £500 million a year, ten times over…
The report recommends:
Policy Exchange also points out that civil service dismissals are a pitiful 0.5%. Labour’s plan to shave £1.5 billion off the Whitehall budget by the next election looks like small beer compared to what’s possible. Meanwhile briefings that Rachel Reeves could swing the axe on 50,000 civil servants in the spending review still wouldn’t be enough to bring numbers back to pre-pandemic levels – Whitehall has ballooned from 380,000 to 514,000 since 2016. Time to cull the no-longer-world-leading civil service…
Asked by Lobby hacks about his past comments on Trump (“any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now”) Burnham was blithe:
“Politicians say things throughout their career, but now the important thing is to focus on the moment you are in.”
Were it so easy…