Rishi Sunak has committed to cutting Civil Service jobs as part of a “shake up” of the “bloated post-Covid state” that would also require senior civil servants to spend a year working outside of Whitehall if they want promotion.
The Sunak campaign said the plans include cutting the “back office” headcount, changing pay rewards from being based on longevity to performance, bringing back a version of the suspended fast-stream graduate recruitment programme, and championing the use of apprenticeships.
The Tory leadership hopeful and former chancellor said the “bloated post-Covid state is in need of a shake-up” and committed to reforms to create a “leaner” and “truly Rolls Royce service”.
His pledge to tackle the civil service comes as he attempts to re-ignite his campaign with his opponent foreign secretary Liz Truss the clear front runner according to polls.
When Sunak was chancellor, the Government said it intended to reduce Civil Service numbers by around 90,000, in order to return it to 2016 staffing levels.
But the Sunak campaign has not committed to a figure for changes to the total headcount.
It said it would “tackle Civil Service groupthink” and deepen understanding of business by ensuring all senior civil servants spend at least a year of their career on secondments or external placements outside Whitehall or in industry before they can be promoted.
Mr Sunak said: “As chancellor I saw parts of the British Civil Service at its best, delivering world-class Covid support schemes in record time. But the bloated post-Covid state is in need of a shake-up so I will create a sharper, leaner civil service.
“I’ll press ahead with cuts to back office Civil Service headcount, recruiting and retaining the brightest and best.
“I’ll strengthen civil servants’ experience beyond Whitehall, allow ministers to bring in more external expertise, and bring in performance pay so we have a truly Rolls Royce service delivering for and accountable to the British people.”
The FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, described the proposal as “ill-thought out rhetoric that doesn’t survive the first hour of scrutiny”.
Leadership rival Liz Truss has already promised a “war on Whitehall waste”, but she abandoned plans to cut £8.8 billion from public sector pay outside of London after a backlash.
The Foreign Secretary said the proposal had been “misrepresented” but nevertheless said she would not go ahead with regional pay boards.
Sunak’s pledge to cut Whitehall jobs comes as he tried to breathe new life into his his election campaign as a former Cabinet minister became the third Tory MP to publicly switch their support from him to Truss in the leadership race.
Alun Cairns, who served as Welsh secretary, said on Monday he believes the Foreign Secretary is the best candidate to secure the Union of the four UK nations.
He effectively argued it would be more likely to break up under Mr Sunak, a former chancellor, compared to his opponent and her “positive ambition for our country”.
Ms Truss has adopted a more abrasive approach to the first ministers of the devolved administrations during the campaign to succeed Boris Johnson in No 10.
She described Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon as an “attention seeker” who is “best ignored” and called Wales’s Mark Drakeford a “low energy version of Jeremy Corbyn”.
Mr Cairns’ move comes ahead of Tory party hustings in Scotland and Northern Ireland this week, and as polls make Ms Truss favourite to win among Tory members who will decide the outcome of the race.
