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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Jamie Grierson

UK ministers ‘picking number out of air’ for civil service job cuts, says union

A woman walks past a street sign for Parliament Street and Whitehall in Westminster, London
Jacob Rees-Mogg rejected the suggestion that the civil service job cuts were a return to austerity. Photograph: Vickie Flores/EPA

UK ministers are “picking a number out of the air” when setting civil service staffing targets amid reports the government wants to reduce its headcount by about 90,000, the head of a union has said.

The prime minister is understood to have given the cabinet the task of cutting staff by a fifth, saying every bit of cash saved on government spending could be better used elsewhere.

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