MINISTERS were told to stop treating the Civil Service as a political punchbag after Pat McFadden announced plans for “radical” reforms today.

Unions pushed back against the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster’s proposals for performance-related pay and underperforming civil servants being incentivised to leave their jobs.

Interviewed on TV, Mr McFadden declined to say how many people could lose their jobs but said that he believed the Civil Service “would and can become smaller” and he would like to see more “working outside London.”

The FDA union for senior civil servants described it as a “retreading of failed narratives.”

And Prospect union general secretary Mike Clancy said that civil servants have been “integral to helping the UK navigate the challenges we have faced in recent times,” adding: “Nobody would say the Civil Service is perfect, and our members are willing partners in reform, but this government must end the tradition of treating the Civil Service as a political punchbag.”