Civil service is still growing, claims Osborne

2 Jun 05
Shadow chancellor George Osborne this week accused the government of failing to deliver promised civil service job cuts, leaving Britain's economy ailing.

03 June 2005

Shadow chancellor George Osborne this week accused the government of failing to deliver promised civil service job cuts, leaving Britain's economy ailing.

Osborne, promoted after the general election, was responding to new figures from the Office for National Statistics. These showed that the number of civil service jobs rose by 1,000 in the final quarter of 2004 compared with 2003, despite the Labour government's commitment to slash 84,000 posts by 2008.

Osborne told Public Finance: 'It is clear from these figures that the chancellor's pledge to cut civil service numbers was all bluster and hot air. Between 1999 and the end of last year, civil service numbers have actually increased by 66,000.'

The figures were released by the ONS on May 26 and show that the number of civil service employees at the end of December 2004 was 565,000, a drop of 5,000 from the previous quarter.

But the overall trend is up, despite the government's 2003 pledge to cut civil service jobs as part of Chancellor Gordon Brown's £21.5bn annual efficiency savings target by 2008.

Osborne added: 'Brown talks about fostering a competitive economy. The reality he is delivering is an economy which has slipped from fourth to eleventh in the international competitiveness league and seen a drop of one third in its productivity growth. This is the true cost of his fat government and over-regulation.'

But the Cabinet Office, which is co-ordinating the government's planned reduction in civil service numbers, said the government was on course to meet its target.

A spokesman said: 'While official measurements show that civil service jobs have risen since 1999, the latest figures show that, since the reporting period for the efficiency review began last year, overall job numbers have fallen in line with the target.'

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