What’s wrong with our civil servants? (Apart from them not turning up to work)

Facts4EU reveals the relentless negativity every time there’s good news

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

Unemployment: DOWN - Payrolled employees: UP - Real wages: UP

Last week there was good news from the Office for National Statistics, buried by all the political news. In each case there was reason to celebrate but you would never know this from the summaries they produce.

To counter this negativity from Britain’s civil servants, the Facts4EU.Org team has taken the raw, official data which these civil servants have collated and presents a summary for readers below.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Basic economic statistics from the ONS last week

1. Unemployment – way below the EU’s, at 4.2%

UK unemployment : 4.2%
EU unemployment : 6.0%

[Sources: Latest ONS and EU Commission official data.]

2. Payrolled employees up by 1.2m

Increase on 1 year ago: ▲ +398,000
Since Feb 2020: ▲ +1,190,000

The number of payrolled employees rose by 1.3% compared with October 2022, a rise of 398,000 employees. The number of payrolled employees was up by 4.1% since February 2020, a rise of 1,190,000.

[Source : ONS.]

The number of payrolled employees is now well above pre-pandemic levels. And of course the increase is even more when compared with the catastrophic predictions of HM Treasury, David Cameron, and George Osborne just before the EU Referendum.

They predicted massive job losses of up to 820,000 and have still failed to apologise for misleading the public so egregiously.

On top of that, one of them was ennobled by the PM last week and given one of the plum jobs in government.

3. Wage growth – above inflation

Annual growth in real terms (adjusted for inflation) for total pay including bonuses rose on the year by 1.4% in the period Jul-Sept 2023.

Annual average regular pay growth for the public sector was 7.3% in Jul-Sept 2023
This is ”the highest regular annual growth rate since comparable records began in 2001”
For the private sector this was 7.8%
”Among the largest annual growth rates seen outside of the COVID-19 pandemic period.”

[Source : ONS.]

The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP commented on our report today

"Great news that there are more jobs, that pay is up and unemployment is way below EU levels.
"I told the Remain doomsters before the referendum they were wrong to say jobs would fall, unemployment would rise and we would do worse than the EU if we voted out. Now we have the proof."
"The UK can do much better if we now use our Brexit freedoms to roll back bad EU laws and taxes that still get in the way of more success."

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Basic economic statistics from the ONS last week (continued)

4. Retail sales

When compared with their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic level in February 2020, total retail sales were 16.9% higher in value terms.

Retail sales in real terms have increased. Below we show the reality.

[Source : ONS.]

Observations

For years we’ve tolerated the negativity of the BBC and the Office for National Statistics but at some point this has to change. It is simply unacceptable for this propaganda to continue. If not we might as well be living in the Soviet Union of the 1980s.

On top of many civil servants' unwillingness to embrace and make a go of Brexit, we continue to have their unwillingness to go into the office and do a decent week's work. One government department has even allowed their staff to go off and sun themselves for a week, on full pay.

Here is what the Rt Hon Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP had to say about this yesterday :-

“This is absolutely stark raving bonkers. I’ve never heard something more idiotic, stupid and pointless for a long, long time.
“Working from overseas? I mean really? By the beach perhaps? In the sea? On a holiday? Really? If the Civil Service chiefs think that is sensible, then we need a complete clearout. You’ve got to ask yourself, of course, it’s not their money, it’s the taxpayers’ money, so they don’t care. Just bonkers.”

For years Brexit Facts4EU.Org has advocated the wholesale firing of all Permanent Secretaries of all government departments, along with firing all the Heads of Communications.

Those readers familiar with the 18th century novel by Voltaire (Candide) will recall his words : “In this country, it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, in order to encourage the others”. This followed the execution of the Admiral John Byng on 14th March 1757. We most certainly do not advocate execution but we do continue to call for the removal of the top echelons from their posts, "pour encourager les autres".

Once again we must question why it falls to a small, underfunded think-tank to bring all the good news to the public’s attention.

Above we have shown the results of our analysis of the official data. This is not selective, it’s the way things are.

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[ Sources: Office for National Statistics | EU Commission ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Mon 20 Nov 2023

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Reader Comments 11

1. Stephen Jenner , Monday, November 20, 2023, 07:03:

All of this information was probably in the hands of the government (i.e. The WEF) at least a week ago, which probably explains why Mr. Sunak took the nuclear option and re-employed Cameron.
We can't be showing that Brexit is a success. That would never do.
Expect to see Osborne appointed as an advisor to the chancellor during the next couple of weeks.

2. Ashley Great Britain , Monday, November 20, 2023, 07:31:

The vast majority of people in the civil service are wholeheartedly entwined with the EU. This has been by design for decades, Take over the country from within and you control all the leavers of power. The current state of Brexit and the official unwillingness to accept it are a direct result of this. We have little chance of advancement while these people and views are held in place.

3. Stephen Jenner , Monday, November 20, 2023, 08:51:

@Ashley, agreed...
Expect to see "Treason" May, re-energised following a powerful electric shock to the temples, rise and start walking again, reminiscent of Ms. Shelley's Frankenstein novel.

4. terence patrick hewett , Monday, November 20, 2023, 10:12:

Constitutional Reform and Quango Reform, of which Civil Service Reform is a part, needs an administration dedicated to this.
The mechanics of the process are well known.
Hire a good private sector hatchet man such as Tufan Erginbilgiç of Rolls-Royce: set up parallel departments and cut the dead wood out, dept by dept. Kicking the awkward squad into long-term arbitration, and forming a union-free Civil Service.
There will of course be "industrial action" which is handled Thatcher style.
The trick, is to evaluate the process thoroughly beforehand, assemble the assets you need, such as emergency resolution, security and police: and move cautiously so as not to upset the financial markets.
But the current process of political re-alignment will have to be completed, before we get an administration uncorrupted by the EU, which is dedicated to do this.

5. LuxuryBalloon , Monday, November 20, 2023, 11:52:

Disappointing to see ‘the establishment’ having taken back control after Brexit. And if Labour takes back control, we need all the help we can get.

6. jon iivesey , Monday, November 20, 2023, 18:02:

Not entirely off-topic, Barrnier now says that France needs some sort of shield from EU law. Quote: “For 30 or 40 years, there’s a kind of interpretation that is always in favour of the migrants . . . We have to rewrite something in the [EU] treaties or in the [European Convention of Human Rights]. We have to create a constitutional shield [allowing national law to take precedence], and to ask the French people to decide. The EU today is no longer the EU that the UK left. We have begun to draw the lessons of Brexit.”
The sark in me wants to suggest that the time to draw lessons was before Brexit, not six years after, but this is confirmation of something I have been wondering about for a while. That is, while we worry about our domestic Remainers and other fools, what exactly are those who are still in the EU worrying about. Well, if Barnier is any indication, they are worrying about how EU membership is impacting their ability to run their own countries. Funny, that.
And I don't think this is an "of course". There are many possible EUs. For example, there is hypothetical EU that takes careful account of the concerns of its members and acts so as to assist them, not hamper them. And then there is the actual EU they are stuck with.

7. jon iivesey , Monday, November 20, 2023, 18:08:

As you note "UK unemployment : 4.2%, EU unemployment : 6.0%" In addition, as Draghi said a month ago, EU unemployment has never been lower. Can you imagine how we would feel in the UK if our unemployment level had never been lower than 6%?
The social effects of decades of unemployment *above* 6% would be chronic and devastating.

8. Gazzablack , Tuesday, November 21, 2023, 01:18:

The FTA negotiation kick-off for an updated and upgraded deal between the UK and South Korea is to take place today
Over £21 billion in New investment in the UK is to be announced during the South Korea state visit this week.
.
Having just signed the latest MOU with Florida, the UK is now in discussions with California on the next one.
.
Brexit has boosted UK wages - say economists
.
Meanwhile
The EU is set to place France on it's fiscal watch list, while Germany and Italy are deemed not fully compliant.
.
Britain and Germany are in talks about building a 400 mile long pipeline under the North Sea to carry Hydrogen to mainland Europe

9. Ashley Great Britain , Tuesday, November 21, 2023, 07:03:

8 Gazzablack.
That is interesting.
Does the UK produce a lot of hydrogen then?
The Rejoiner blob certainly does.

10. Gazzablack , Tuesday, November 21, 2023, 13:31:

9, Ashley
.
We produce about 700,000 tonnes a year
The target is apparently 5 GW (some sources say 10 GW) a year by 2030.
What that equates to in tonnes, and if it's substantial, I have no idea
.
That's not hydrogen you can smell emanating from the rejoiner blob, that's the smell of their decomposing arguments.

11 comments, page 1 of 2

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