Boris Johnson criticised over ‘very foolish’ pause to civil service graduate fast stream

‘This is not something a serious government with an interest in competent administration would do,’ says ex-Tory cabinet minister

(EPA)

Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend the government’s graduate fast stream for at least a year amid deep civil service cuts has been labelled “very foolish” by a former Tory cabinet minister.

It comes after the government revealed plans earlier this month to cut the civil service headcount by 91,000 in a move that led to fury from unions and warnings of national strike action.

The highly competitive graduate scheme — hiring around 1,000 people on an annual basis — will be the first casualty of the cut in 2023 despite criticism from some quarters, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Communities secretary Michael Gove reportedly spoke out against the plan, before the decision was signed off at a meeting on 19 May, chaired by Mr Johnson’s chief-of-staff and minister Stephen Barclay.

“The chair confirmed that the prime minister had decided the fast stream would be paused for at least a year,” leaked minutes from the meeting said.

But former cabinet minister under Theresa May, Sir David Lidington, hit out at the “very foolish” move, insisting that having “super-bright young officials around the table would challenge” orthodoxy in government departments.

David Gauke, another ex-minister, added: “Hard to imagine what possible justification there might for this.

“This is not something a serious government with an interest in competent administration would do”.

A government spokesperson told The Independent: “As the prime minister has made clear, the civil service works hard to implement the government’s agenda and deliver for the public.

Former Conservative cabinet minister David Lidington (AFP via Getty Images)

“Our focus is on having a civil service that has the skills and capabilities to continue delivering outstanding public services, which is exactly why we have changed recruitment rules to bring in the very best talent and are investing in the professional development of our people”.

They added: “It is crucial that all aspects of taxpayer spending demonstrates efficiency and value for money.

“It was right to grow the civil service to deliver Brexit and deal with the pandemic, but we must now return it to 2016 staffing levels and have asked all government departments to set out how this might be achieved.”

In 2021, there were over 59,000 applications for the civil service fast stream, with just over 1,000 people appointed to various schemes, including project delivery and the diplomatic services.

But earlier in May, the prime minister told cabinet ministers to bring forward plans to reduce staffing levels in their departments and return civil service levels to 2016 levels – a reduction of 91,000 staff.

He suggested the billions saved could be used for tax cuts, saying: “Every point the government pre-empts from the taxpayer is money they can spend on their own priorities, their own lives”.

The move, however, has raised the prospect of strike action, with members of the Public and Commercial Service Unions (PCS), which represents civil servants, backing a move to hold a ballot on industrial action in September.

The union’s general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said the vote last week demonstrated “the very real anxiety and anger our members feel at the way they have been treated by this government.