THE government’s savage new attack on Civil Service jobs is even worse than that inflicted during Chancellor George Osborne’s six years of austerity and cuts, unions said today.

The cuts threaten to create administrative chaos affecting the justice system, licence and passport applications, benefits, defence and tax collection, according to the TUC and three Civil Service unions.

In the analysis of official data, the unions found that the reduction from 76 civil servants per 10,000 people in 2010 to 59 in 2016 was a 22 per cent cut to Civil Service staff.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak plans to axe 91,000 jobs, which will see a further 20 per cent reduction in the workforce and break the previous record of low staff numbers.

The TUC said the cuts will harm families and businesses “and that some services may have to be stopped altogether.”

General secretary Frances O’Grady said: “They said we would build back better.

“But the Conservative government has changed its tune. Now it’s cut back harder – with cuts that go even deeper than George Osborne’s.

“If these damaging plans don’t change, we know there will be harm to families and businesses that depend on services.”

Ms O’Grady said that previous job cuts in emergency planning and public health left the nation less able to deal with the pandemic.

“The price was too high. We cannot make the same mistake again,” she said.

Mike Clancy, general secretary of professional and technical staff union Prospect, said Civil Service workers were already struggling with extra work caused by Brexit and the conflict in Ukraine.

Steven Littlewood, assistant general secretary of union FDA, which represents senior civil servants, said courts were already suffering “a historically large backlog of cases.

“Given the new responsibilities the government has post-Brexit for areas like borders, customs and agriculture, it is impossible to see how it can provide the services it currently is with the proposed job losses,” he said.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the biggest Civil Service union PCS, said: “Making cuts will only make things worse: making waiting lists longer for those seeking passports and driving licences, and telephone queues longer for those with tax enquiries.

“We shall fight for every job in the Civil Service. Not just on behalf of our members, but on behalf of every member of the public who relies on the services they provide.”