The dire state of the public finances has been laid bare in a bombshell new report, with taxpayers spending ever more for ever less.
The investigation by Facts4EU, shared exclusively with GB News, comes amid growing calls for a UK equivalent of the US Department for Government Efficiency (Doge).
Notwithstanding the legal challenges, Elon Musk's mission to trim the fat from government by cutting taxpayers' money and reducing the US national debt enjoys widespread support across the Atlantic.
In an exclusive poll for GB News in February, 98 per cent of respondents said they would like to see Britain take an axe to the public sector.
Public sector productivity has dropped 8.4 per cent over the last five years
Facts4EU
Do they have a point?
Facts4EU has analysed the latest data published by the Office for National Statistics for the last five years.
Public sector productivity has dropped 8.4 per cent during this time period, while inputs have been up 19.8 per cent (see chart above). In other words, taxpayers have been paying more into the system for diminishing returns.
This profligacy is even more acute in the health sector, which has seen productivity plummet 18.5 per cent in the last five years (see chart below).
Meanwhile, investment in real terms has soared by 30 per cent over this timeframe.
Health sector productivity has plummeted 18.5 per cent in the last five years
Facts4EU
The shock analysis shows that if the current trends continue, with more going into the public sector each year and less being pro-rata produced by it, then by 2058 the public sector’s productivity will be only 50 per cent of what it was immediately pre-Covid in Q4 2019.
At the same time, getting 50 per cent of the productivity we had in 2019 will cost double the amount.
In response to the bombshell report, Conservative cabinet minister Sir John Redwood said: "Well done Facts4EU. They are right to reveal just how much more taxpayers have to pay to get the same amount of public service as five years ago.
"The terrifying decline in productivity means the state now needs to employ more people and resources to do the same thing. No wonder spending on health and other public services has shot up. We have to pay for all the extra waste and inefficiency. Then on top there’s a further big additional charge to cover the rise in wages and prices too."
LATEST MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENTS
Redwood claims Rachel Reeves’s alleged black hole of £22 bn, "largely made up of her big public sector pay awards" is small fry compared to this "alarming collapse", adding: "The private sector had a big decline in productivity thanks to the Covid lockdowns as did the public sector. The private sector has restored its losses and is now more efficient than in 2019, whilst in the public sector things have got worse."
He added: "You should expect productivity to go up by say two per cent a year. Many parts of the public sector employ people to process applications, licences, benefits, taxes, health appointments and the like. These are all activities where new computers and coming AI can help boost efficiency. The public sector has been spending a lot on automation but is missing out on the benefits. There has been a large recruitment of additional administrators, and a surge in the number of managers relative to other staff.
"Instead of things being better managed, they are overmanaged with too many managers diverting staff time away from the central task of serving users well to pour over internal matters. The result is a disaster. The UK cannot afford all this mismanagement."
