POLITICS
We’re trying to run the country here! Civil servants say government chaos means they can’t do their jobs properly
The government merry-go-round is causing chaos for civil servants trying to deliver policies, the leader of the civil service union has told The Big Issue.
The Treasury has had four chancellors in four months, while in that time three different Home Secretaries have steered Britain’s security and immigration and we’ve had the shortest-serving prime minister ever.
“The lack of continuity and chaos is certainly disrupting the running of the government,” said general secretary Mark Serwotka, representing 150,000 civil servants who are members of the PCS union.
“When incompetent politicians flail around changing policies on the hoof, failing to deliver, it’s our members who take the flak on the frontline.”
A DWP employee told The Big Issue that civil servants in government departments are “frightened to implement what they think was previously agreed, because they don’t know if it’s still OK”.
PCS union boss Mark Serwotka has been in his post from 2000 after being elected straight from the ‘shop floor’
“The machinery of government is coming to a grinding halt,” they added. “When we’re talking to our management about staffing levels, redundancy packages… they don’t know. You’re trying to get answers to what should be pretty straightforward questions, and they can’t tell you.”
The multiple changes in leadership have also resulted in a breakdown of relations between senior civil servants and department ministers, Serwotka said.
“Ministers more than ever are prepared to ignore the advice of the senior civil service, so you saw Priti Patel ignore the advice on the way she was treating refugees,” he said, referencing concerns
