London is studying the possibility of eliminating more than 90,000 civil servants positions. This would represent a potential saving of £3.75 billion per year to the state budget.

In the UK, austerity is the order of the day in public administration. Last Friday, in fact, Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked his government to present him a plan that could cut 91,000 jobs in the public service. It aims to free up funds to counter the cost of living. What is driving this move is that the government is trying to go back to 2016 workforce levels before Brexit and the pandemic.

Brexit and Secretary of State for Government Efficiency Jacob Rees-Mogg told the BBC, calling it ‘realistic’ the potential to save £3.75 billion a year. “We’re really back in 2016, so it’s not about doing less, but about doing things more efficiently,” he suggested.

“We have taken on a large number of additional staff, 91,000 to be precise, to deal with some of the consequences of Covid-19 and Brexit”, he explained, noting that “these two problems are in the process of being addressed. And so we can go back to the numbers we had before.” “We don’t need duplicates,” Rees-Mogg continued, noting that he expected a “natural departure” that would cut the number to 38,000 per year. However, he declined to elaborate on the use of the money saved, saying it is for Finance Minister Rishi Sunak to decide.

The United Kingdom is facing rising inflation that is strangling households and which could exceed 10% this year. So there are increasing calls to help households, especially through an extravagant tax on the oil giant’s record profits.

Sami Nemli / Les Inspirations ECO with agencies