Jacob Rees-Mogg has questioned the size of the civil service workforce, calling for thousands of roles to be cut to reduce bureaucracy.
In an interview with The Times, the minister for government efficiency said he would like to see the size of the civil service workforce reduce to below 425,000 from its current 470,000 full-time staff.
This would mean at least closing the 65,000 posts that were created during the pandemic, he told the newspaper.
“Every person working for the civil service has to be paid for by taxpayers,” he said. “So you’ve got to think, ‘Is this providing value? Is it doing something that needs to be done? Is it doing it in the most efficient way?’”.
Rees-Mogg, who is also minister for Brexit opportunities, added he would look closely at the role of quangos and regulators: “Is the quango doing something that anybody needs to do should be your first question. Is it really necessary? If it’s not necessary, why is it there?”
Last year the government announced plans to move thousands of civil service jobs out of London to new “economy hubs” in northern England.
Since 2018, the size of the civil service in London has grown twice as fast as in other regions outside the capital, according to a report by think tank Onward.
In his interview with The Times, Rees-Mogg also indicated he felt that employment law fell too far in favour of the employee, rather than the employer.
“Frankly, most people working in the City of London do not need a lot of protection from their employer. Sometimes the employer would think they need more protection from the employee,” he said.
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“So it’s about making the protections you have work for the people who need them, rather than thinking that absolutely everybody needs the same level of protection, because they don’t.”
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