How Hunt wants to reduce civil service numbers by around 60,000
This is what Jeremy Hunt said in his speech about freezing civil service recruitment.
We have the best civil servants in the world – and they saved many lives in the pandemic by working night and day.
But even after that pandemic is over, we still have 66,000 more civil servants than before.
New policies should not always mean new people.
So today I’m freezing the expansion of the civil service and putting in place a plan to reduce its numbers to pre-pandemic levels.
This will save £1bn next year.
And I won’t lift the freeze until we have a proper plan not just for the civil service but for all public sector productivity improvements.
Treasury sources have been suggesting that Hunt would be happy to see diversity and equality posts axed as part of this crackdown. But in practice that is not going to make much difference. There were 457,000 people in the civil service in June this year. The headcount was projected to grow by 40,000 next year, but Hunt is now freezing numbers at where they are now. Around 1,000 civil servants work on diversity and equality issues, the Treasury says.
When Hunt says he wants to get numbers down to pre-pandemic levels, that means getting the headcount down by around 60,000, to around 400,000, the Treasury is saying.
In his speech Hunt implied that it was Covid that pushed up civil servant numbers. But in fact Brexit is mainly responsible. The Treasury says new officials had to be hired to deal with the process and to perform government functions that were previously done in Brussels when the UK was in the EU.
Key events
Badenoch defends Brexit, calling it ‘perhaps greatest ever vote of confidence in project of UK’
Kemi Badenoch, the business and trade secretary, is regularly at or near the top of the ConservativeHome survey of Tory members about how cabinet ministers are performing. That is why she is currently favourite to be the next Tory leader.
Her speech to the Tory conference is unlikely to harm her rankings. Her delivery was a bit flat, but it was full of lines that will go down well with activists. Here is a summary.
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Badenoch defended Brexit, calling it “perhaps the greatest ever vote of confidence in the project of the United Kingdom”. Until now Brexit has hardly been mentioned in the main platform speeches. But Badenoch, whose job includes negotiating post-Brexit trade deals, rejected claims it has held back the UK economy. She said:
Ministers in other countries tell me about supply chain issues affecting everything from getting car components to stocking supermarket shelves. They tell me about how they are coping with unfilled vacancies as societies from Germany to Japan get older.
But it is only when I am back in the UK that l am told that all these issues are down to Brexit.
Our political opponents are obsessed with viewing every problem as Brexit. Relentlessly talking down our country.
So as your business and trade secretary, I’m here to set the record straight.
They told us Brexit would hold back our recovery from the pandemic and we have the worst economic performance in Europe. Wrong.
The UK’s recovery from COVID has outpaced France and Germany. This year we overtook France to become the third 3rd largest manufacturer in Europe.
They tell you ‘Our exports have dropped to an all-time low’. Wrong. This year we rose from the world’s 6th to 5th largest exporter of goods and services.
They told you that Brexit would be the end of the City. Wrong. London remains the top financial investment destination in Europe. Far from losing jobs in the City, they are at a record high. 8% more today than in 2019 …
Brexit was perhaps the greatest ever vote of confidence in the project of the United Kingdom – and we will soon be asking the country to trust that this project is safe in our hands.
The last line was curious. Two of the four components of the UK – Scotland and Northern Ireland – voted against Brexit, and there are ground for thinking that over the next decade or so it might hasten the break-up of the UK, by encouraging Irish reunification or Scottish independence.
Last year I published a report [the Sewell report] that told the truth about race in the UK. Labour didn’t like it. They want young people to believe a narrative of hopelessness.
A narrative that says there is no point in trying, because British society is against you and you’re better off asking for reparations.
A narrative that tells children like mine that the odds are stacked against them. I tell my children that is the best country in the world to be black – because it’s a country that sees people, not labels.
Conservatives want young people to be proud of their country when others want them to be ashamed. It wasn’t a tough decision for us to reject the divisive agenda of critical race theory. We believe as Martin Luther King once said, people should be judged by the content of their character – not the colour of their skin. And if that puts us in conflict with those who would re-racialise society, who would put up the divisions that have been torn down – well, Conference, all I can say is: bring it on.
Next week, Labour will tell the country that it is ready for government. But ladies and gentlemen, let me ask you this if Labour MPs can’t tell us what a woman is, what else aren’t they telling us?
Tory West Midlands mayor Andy Street says cancelling phase 2 of HS2 would be blow to investor confidence
Peter Walker
Andy Street, the Conservative mayor of West Midlands, has shown his visible anger with the dithering over HS2, saying investors would only trust a country and government if they had consistency, saying:
If you tell the international investment community you are going to do something. you bloody well have to stick to your word.
Asked about the potential decision to cancel the Birmingham to Manchester leg of the rail line during a fringe event at the Conservative conference, Street said he did not know what the decision would be.
However, he said, consistency and certainty was “an absolute fundamental point”, adding: “It’s what drives investment.”
Street used the example of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year, saying local leaders of all political parties had worked collaboratively, adding: “So the link to HS2 is blindingly obvious.”
Tom Tugendhat challenges Tories in favour of ECHR withdrawal to explain practicalities
Several members of the cabinet have been saying they support the government not ruling out withdrawal from the European convention on human rights. Ministers in favour of the ECHR have been less vocal, but on Times Radio Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, challenged those on the other side of the argument to explain how they would deal with the practicalities. He said:
My position is really very simple. Which is there are many treaties around the world, if you want to leave one, please explain to me how you’re going to address the gaps that they create.
Now, people who’ve said they want to leave the convention, I can understand the argument. It does raise some pretty big questions, whether that’s about the Good Friday agreement, whether it’s about the devolved administrations, whether it’s about our relationships with other countries, including, in fact, the TCA [trade and cooperation agreement – the Brexit deal with the EU].
Asked if he was saying withdrawal would be a mistake, Tugendhat said:
I’m just suggesting these are really big questions and don’t throw around words unless you can answer the questions. And so what we need to do is make sure if you’re looking at the future in a different way, that’s fine. Set out the questions. Set out the answers.
How Hunt wants to reduce civil service numbers by around 60,000
This is what Jeremy Hunt said in his speech about freezing civil service recruitment.
We have the best civil servants in the world – and they saved many lives in the pandemic by working night and day.
But even after that pandemic is over, we still have 66,000 more civil servants than before.
New policies should not always mean new people.
So today I’m freezing the expansion of the civil service and putting in place a plan to reduce its numbers to pre-pandemic levels.
This will save £1bn next year.
And I won’t lift the freeze until we have a proper plan not just for the civil service but for all public sector productivity improvements.
Treasury sources have been suggesting that Hunt would be happy to see diversity and equality posts axed as part of this crackdown. But in practice that is not going to make much difference. There were 457,000 people in the civil service in June this year. The headcount was projected to grow by 40,000 next year, but Hunt is now freezing numbers at where they are now. Around 1,000 civil servants work on diversity and equality issues, the Treasury says.
When Hunt says he wants to get numbers down to pre-pandemic levels, that means getting the headcount down by around 60,000, to around 400,000, the Treasury is saying.
In his speech Hunt implied that it was Covid that pushed up civil servant numbers. But in fact Brexit is mainly responsible. The Treasury says new officials had to be hired to deal with the process and to perform government functions that were previously done in Brussels when the UK was in the EU.
No 10 says final decision on phase two of HS2 not yet taken
Downing Street is now saying that Rishi Sunak has not taken the final decision on phase two of HS2, Sky’s Beth Rigby reports.
On HS2 from No 10 spokesperson: “These reports are incorrect. No final decisions have been taken on Phase 2 of HS2”
On HS2 from No 10 spokesperson: “These reports are incorrect. No final decisions have been taken on Phase 2 of HS2”
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) October 2, 2023
Hunt claims the Tories are the only party prepared to take difficult decisions.
Rishi Sunak shows what can be achieved with education, aspiration and hard work, he says.
He ends:
It’s time to roll up our sleeves, take on the declinists and watch the British economy prove the doubters wrong.
And that’s the end of the speech.
It was remarkably short, and light. In the past a chancellor’s speech at party conference was a major political event. That was more of a footnote.
Hunt is now talking about the plans to restrict welfare payments. He says he supports Mel Stride in his review of work capability assessments.
And to ensure work continues to pay, the government will increase the national living wage to at least £11 per hour, he says. (See 8.12am.)
Hunt says he will act to ensure people do not get debanked because of their political views.
(In fact, they don’t, according to a preliminary review carried out by the Financial Conduct Authority.)
Hunt says he will freeze expansion of civil service
But one aspect of the review has already been decided, it seems. Hunt says he is going to freeze the expansion of the civil service until numbers are down to pre-pandemic levels. That should save £1bn, he says.
Hunt says the Institute for Fiscal Studies was wrong to say last week that higher taxes are permanent. (See 9.33am.)
The UK needs a more productive state, not a bigger state, he says.
He says the UK can stabilise government spending as a proportion of GDP if it increases public sector productivity by 0.5% every year.
John Glen, the chief secretary to the Treasury, will review how this can be done, he says.
Hunt claims higher borrowing under Labour will lead to higher taxes and higher inflation
Hunt says Labour will increase borrowing, and that will increase debt.
That means higher taxes, higher mortgages and higher inflation for families. That’s not an economic policy. It’s an economic illusion.
Hunt says he and Sunak want to make UK world’s next Silicon Valley
Hunt says the ONS has recently revised its growth figures. They said the UK was the worst performing large European economy since the pandemic. But now the figures show the UK is one of the best.
But he says he and Rishi Sunak care more about the future than the past.
They want to make the UK the world’s next Silicon Valley.
