Fallout after the PM’s Cummings-inspired jab at the Civil Service, dismissing it as a “tepid bath of managed decline,” has left Labour in damage-control mode with Starmer U-turning on his comments within a day. Now Pat McFadden is scrambling to smooth things over by pledging to shake up the state, promising it will be “more like a start-up…”
Speaking at UCL, McFadden will launch a flashy £100 million fund aimed at pioneering public service reform. The FDA union has given their seal of approval for these reforms, though Starmer’s still not in civil servants’ good books…
McFadden insisted plans for Whitehall reform are not an attack on civil servants: “The people are good, but the systems and structures that they work in are too often outdated… They want to achieve, and we have to help them do it.” Though he went on to say “public servants are very clever people, but they’re not all-knowing”. Which is why the state needs to invest in new technology…
McFadden says the first “wave” of “test and learn teams” will begin in January, working on temporary accommodation and family support to make the state more like a “start up”, with more waves will follow later in 2025. He also says departments will have to make 2% savings, with “more to come” in the spending review launching tomorrow. No plan to cut jobs in the civil service though…
He goes on to ask “innovators” with tech expertise, or “weirdos or misfits”, (echoing Cummings again), to join the No. 10 Innovation Fellowship Program, saying “this is your time to serve your country.” Calling on them to channel their inner patriots…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”