Labour plan for £2bn in Whitehall cuts will hit frontline services, union warns

You can't cut your way to growth,' says PCS head as Reeves confirms move to cut administrative costs by 15% by 2030

Rachel Reeves's planned cuts of 2bn to government departments will hit frontline services from jobcentres to HMRC phone lines and efforts to cut the asylum backlog, a union has said.

On Sunday the chancellor confirmed plans to seek a 15% reduction in admin costs across Whitehall, amounting to about 2bn a year, by the end of the decade. She said this would also result in about 10,000 job losses in the civil service, although this was not a target.