The Liz Truss attack on the Civil Service is a vacuous attempt to get headlines

Conservative leadership contender Liz Truss has issued an attack on the civil service threatening to cut holiday entitlement, remove diversity and inclusion roles, axe facility time and lower pay outside London.

The foreign secretary issued the attack as part of her campaign aimed at motivating Conservative grassroots members.

General Secretary of Prospect union Mike Clancy responded:

“In this month-long game of Conservative red meat bingo, it was inevitable that the leadership contenders would eventually get around to attacking the workforce that they aspire to lead.

“The Civil Service is already struggling to recruit and retain employees in the face of crippling pay cuts, threats of redundancy and continuous attacks from ministers. Making working for the Civil Service even less attractive by reducing leave, cutting pay for people outside of London, and removing roles dedicated to reducing inequality will only make recruitment harder and leave us unable to provide vital services. This will be further compounded by the removal of facility time – a direct attack on the workforce.

“Liz Truss has spent the last few weeks trashing the record of her own government. Judging by this vacuous attempt to garner headlines friendly to her selectorate, she plans more of the same economically illiterate and insulting ideological nonsense that this government has been churning out in recent years.”