One of the government’s most senior ministers has announced a brutal round of civil service sackings, as he hopes to set an example to other departments. Keir Starmer has pledged to cut the “flab” from the civil service, combining cuts to numbers with increased use of Artificial Intelligence to save money and improve the functioning of the state.

This was accelerated today when Pat McFadden, Sir Keir’s right hand man in charge of the Cabinet Office, confirmed swinging cuts to staff in his own department. Officials at the department were today informed that 1,200 posts will be cut - or not replaced when staff leave - around one in five of the total workforce. Meanwhile a further 900 staff will be transferred to work in other government departments in an effort to cut down on work duplication across Whitehall.

In total the Cabinet Office will see a reduction of one third of its total headcount, saving £110 million a year by 2028.

A departmental source said the news should act as an example to other Cabinet Ministers to follow suit and begin cutting the size of the civil service.

The source said: “Leading by example, we are creating a leaner and more focused Cabinet Office that will drive work to reshape the state and deliver our Plan for Change.

“This government will target resources at frontline services - with more teachers in classrooms, extra hospital appointments and police back on the beat.”

In recent weeks the Cabinet Office confirmed wider plans to cut the cost of the state by 15% by 2030, saving around £2.2 billion.

In late March, Mr McFadden announced a £150 million fund for redundancies, to kick in this month.

The pot will enable departments to reduce staff numbers over the next two years, though the Government hasn’t specified an exact headcount reduction they are pursuing.

Jobs facing particular threats include those in HR, financial and procurement management, policy advice, communications and office management.

Since 2016 the number of people employed by the civil service has grown from 384,000 to more than 500,000.

This was initially driven by Brexit and Covid, though numbers continued to soar in the latter years of the Conservative government despite these two crises fading.

The Cabinet Office has grown the most of any department by proportion, tripling its size since 2016.

However the news was met with a stern warning from one of the civil service unions, which warned that huge cuts could damage the delivery of Labour’s policies.

Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect, said: “The Cabinet Office has an important role to play operating the machinery of government, driving efficiency and reform, and ensuring other departments are fully aligned with and able to deliver the government's missions.

"Blunt cuts of this scale will make it harder to play that role and could impact on delivery across government.

"Prospect will engage with the Cabinet Office throughout this process and will seek an assurance that there will be no compulsory redundancies."