UK PM Proposes Slashing $4.2 Billion in Government Jobs to Ease Taxpayer Burden – Conservative British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to echo the message of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher this week when he told his cabinet that he intends to cut the government’s workload by one-fifth and save £3.5 billion ($4.2 billion) per year.
The plan is designed to ease the burden on the British taxpayer and ease the cost-of-living crisis that is affecting workers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Johnson said that his government must “cut the cost of government to reduce the cost of living.”
Under Johnson’s plan, 91,000 civil service jobs will be cut. The prime minister said that the civil service, which provides service to the British government regardless of which party is in power, has become “swollen” during the pandemic. The money it saves, he said, would be given back to the British people in the form of tax cuts.
“Every pound the Government pre-empts from the taxpayer is money they can spend on their own priorities, on their own lives,” he said.
The Labour Party, the government’s official opposition, criticized the plan and claimed the prime minister was letting down working people with “pointless rhetoric and lack of action.”
How Bad is Inflation Hitting the UK?
The economy of the United Kingdom has been affected in much the same way as the United States since the end of the pandemic, with the cost of food, fuel, and consumer goods rising quickly.
A research briefing published by the U.K.’s House of Commons Library described how consumer prices, measured by the Consumer Prices Index, were 7% higher in March 2022 than in March 2021.
“The cost of living has been increasing across the UK since early 2021 and in March 2022, inflation reached its highest recorded level since 1992, affecting the affordability of goods and services for households,” he said.
Household fuel bills in the United Kingdom have risen from an annual average of £1,277 to £1,971.
Will Boris’ Plan Work?
In response to the cost-of-living crisis, and a need to pay for COVID-era financial relief packages for British businesses and taxpayers, the Conservative government introduced new tax policies designed to reduce the tax burden on those earning less than £25,000 per year and to increase taxes for those earning more.
The Bank of England, the central bank of the United Kingdom, also raised interest rates – just like the Federal Reserve – to drive down rising costs.
But with only around 32 million income tax payers in the United Kingdom, a Johnson’s $4.2 billion tax cut is likely to give little more than £100 ($122) in relief per adult.
With prices skyrocketing across the board and showing no sign of slowing down, the level of relief that slashing tens of thousands of government jobs would achieve may prove inconsequential for most adults.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
