By Sophie Corcoran.
Home Office staff that strike over the Rwanda scheme should be immediately sacked, says political pundit Sophie Corcoran.
Home Office civil servants are threatening potential strike action over the Government’s Rwanda deportation policy, saying that they will strike if they are forced to implement the legislation put forward by the government.
Any home office staff that strikes over the Rwanda scheme should be immediately sacked.
The government was elected on the promise to stop the boats, and the Rwanda scheme declared lawful by the high court in December 2022 was a policy designed to help them achieve that by acting as a deterrent to stop people from illegally crossing the channel in small boats.
The Nationality and Borders bill was passed and became law on the 27th of April 2022, and the illegal migration bill was also passed through the Commons, winning 289 votes to 230 this year. This means that democratically elected MPs have chosen to pass these laws on behalf of the citizens they represent – so why should civil servants be able to impede that?
Democratically elected MPs have chosen to pass these laws on behalf of the citizens they represent – so why should civil servants be able to impede that?
Civil servants are supposed to be impartial servants to whichever government the people have chosen to represent them. They are not political activists. Therefore, if they wish to strike because they do not believe in the government’s policies and do not wish to serve the people – whose taxes pay their civil service, then they ought to leave or be sacked.
The government have the mandate to govern, represent the interests of the public and make and implement policy – the unelected civil servants do not. Therefore, by going on strike, they are deliberately undermining democracy and the way our political system works, but also undermining their impartiality as a civil servant.
By going on strike, they are deliberately undermining democracy and the way our political system works, but also undermining their impartiality as a civil servant.
Any civil servant who claims to strike based on opposition to government policy should be fired. In any other job, if you were to disagree with what your company is doing or not want to do something so, decide not to show up to work – you would get fired. So the same should happen to civil servants who strike for political reasons. They are choosing not to do their jobs, a job the taxpayer who is paying them to do. There’s no justification for them not to be fired.
It’s high time we stop treating civil servants like a bunch of princesses. Stop letting them get away with being lazy, undermining the government and undermining democracy. They either get on with the job or if they don’t like it – they can leave or be fired.
Sophie Corcoran is a broadcaster, journalist, political candidate and reality TV personality. Sophie is NDA’s ‘celebrity of the year’ 2023 nominee. To follow Sophie on Twitter click here.
