Civil service leaders “feel betrayed” by Keir Starmer’s attack on Whitehall during his “Plan for Change” speech, FDA general secretary Dave Penman has said.
Emphasising the need for civil service reform in the speech yesterday morning, the prime minister said: “I don’t think there’s a swamp to be drained here. But I do think too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline.”
When Labour came to power in July, Pat McFadden, the minister for the Cabinet Office, said ministers would not be going around "beating up the civil service" and promised officials a "richer, more rewarding experience".
Speaking on the BBC’s Newsnight programme last night, Penman said: “I don't think the prime minister understands how damaging his words have been. I was talking to civil service leaders today about the challenges that they face. I think they feel a sense of betrayal. They were told that this was going to be a different government. In the early days of this government ministers were walking around departments saying, 'we’re not going to be like the previous administration, we’ve got your back'. And yet here we are five months in with that Trumpian language that is getting used. Why you would invoke that language when you're talking about the civil service I think is just astonishing.”
One senior civil servant contacted CSW after the speech to say: "Thanks Keir. I feel so much better about the gruelling job I do now." They added: "We were all ready to deliver for the new government, but he's going to have pissed off a huge number of people. Who's he even aiming that comment at? Has he been taking lessons from Jacob Rees Mogg?"
Penman said Starmer needs to bring civil servants with him if wants to reform public services. "The prime minister is a leader. He's actually minister for the civil service. He could have spoken today about the incredible work of the civil service – Simon Case did a speech on Tuesday highlighting eight individual civil servants, from people working in job centres to people working in Porton Down, doing incredible work," Penman said.
“Starmer could have said that we need more, we need to do it differently and we’ve got big challenges around reform of public services and I need to take you with me. He didn't do that. He talked about the tepid bath of managed decline. And that's really damaging to hear that from a prime minister.“
Penman said cabinet ministers will be walking into government buildings this week and looking civil servants in the eye who will be thinking: "Am I the one who's enjoying the tepid bath of managed decline? Is it me that you're talking about?"
“Cabinet ministers are going to have to deliver on the ground, and they’re going to have to work with civil servants, and they're going to have to repair the damage that’s been done by the prime minister’s words,” he added.
Asked if Starmer can make it up to civil servants, Penman said: “I’m sure he can. He’s got to fix this. I don't think he understands the scale of the damage he's done. I genuinely don't, because I don't think he would have done it if he had understood that.”
Starmer’s comments were also criticised by Prospect and PCS chiefs.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “One of the reasons trust in politics is so low is because of politicians’ refusal to be accountable for anything. It’s always someone else’s fault. To blame civil servants, who every day work above and beyond to keep the country running, for failing to deliver reform is inaccurate and, worse, cowardly. Accusing people who can’t answer back. Our members want the best for this country and will continue to work hard to deliver that.”
Prospect deputy general secretary Steve Thomas said: “Blaming the civil service for failures in policy delivery is an easy thing to do and is wide of the mark. Reform may well be necessary, indeed civil service unions have been saying for years that we stand ready to work with the government on how best to do that. That offer remains on the table.”
Thomas said the government should instead focus on making use of its talent by “reforming pay for specialists to avoid what until now could be termed the 'unmanaged decline' of various parts of the civil service and its agencies, which are unable to compete with the private sector resulting in a recruitment and retention crisis”.
Ellie Reeves, the minister in the Cabinet Office responsible for missions, was also questioned on Starmer’s comments on Newsnight. Asked if Starmer was deliberately making explicit criticism of the civil service, Reeves said: “It’s about getting out of that sort of siloed way of working, speaking to people across the country, and being as efficient as we possibly can, particularly in the current fiscal circumstances. So it does a different way of working and it’s an ambitious way of working. I think that’s reflected in the ambitious milestones we set out.”
Reeves also said she had “worked with some fantastic civil servants over the last few months” but added that “we need to make sure that people are doing the best that they can”.