Tens of thousands of U.K. civil servants are set to be laid off as Prime Minister Boris Johnson is said to have tasked his ministers with cutting the jobs to levels seen before Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in 2016, as part of new cost-cutting measures.

Johnson is trying to find ways to cut costs at a time when millions of people in Britain are struggling with increasing food and fuel bills, targeting a workforce that has increased to help navigate Brexit and the COVID-19 outbreak.

The prime minister has ordered ministers to slash 91,000 civil service jobs to free up billions for tax cuts, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday.

"We have got to cut the cost of government to reduce the cost of living," he told the newspaper, adding that it had become "swollen" during the pandemic.

Johnson used a "cost of living" Cabinet meeting in the Midlands on Wednesday to order his top team to redouble their efforts to ease the financial pressure on struggling families, it said.

They were given one month to come up with plans to cut the size of the civil service by almost a fifth of the current total, which would save about 3.5 billion pounds ($4.27 billion) a year, the newspaper said.

"Every pound the Government pre-empts from the taxpayer is money they can spend on their own priorities, on their own lives," the report quoted Johnson as saying.

Britain’s minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency, Jacob Rees-Mogg, on Friday confirmed job cuts and did not deny reports that 91,000 Whitehall jobs were to go.

Asked if the cuts were a return to "austerity," Jacob Rees-Mogg, told Sky News: "I don’t think it is."

"I know it sounds eye-catching, but it’s just getting back to the civil service that we had in 2016," he said. "That’s a perfectly reasonable and sensible ambition."

"The administration, the negotiations, most of the work in relation to Brexit has been completed."

'Reckless slash-and-burn'

The government is struggling to balance the books, having spent huge sums during the pandemic, and as it battles spiraling inflation that is holding back economic recovery and putting further pressure on public finances.

Johnson also remains convinced of the need for more officials to get back into the workplace, the Daily Mail said.

"We need to get back into the habit of getting into the office, getting into the workplace," he told the newspaper. "There will be lots of people who disagree with me, but I believe people are more productive, more energetic, more full of ideas when they are surrounded by other people."

Rees-Mogg has in recent weeks taken aim at civil servants still working from home despite the lifting of all coronavirus restrictions.

He was criticized for leaving signed notes on empty desks at government departments, reading: "Sorry you were out. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon."

Rees-Mogg said the civil service had expanded in recent years to deal with the U.K.’s departure from the European Union and the pandemic, and "now we’re trying to get back to normal."

"Up to 38,000 people a year leave the civil service, so the simplest way to do it is to have a freeze on recruitment," he added.

"You have to ensure that people are being used as efficiently as possible to do the roles that are necessary."

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA, a union for public service managers and professionals, said in a tweet, "Unless they’ve got a serious plan, it’s either another headline-grabbing stunt or a reckless slash-and-burn to public services without a thought or care about the consequences."

Johnson’s order comes after he told the parliament on Tuesday he and Chancellor Rishi Sunak will have more to say in the coming days about helping voters with the current cost of living crisis.

"The PM and ministers are clear that the civil service does an outstanding job delivering for the public and driving progress on the government’s priorities," the spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

"But when people and businesses across the country are facing rising costs, the public rightly expect their government to lead by example and run as efficiently as possible."

With the risk of Britain slipping into a recession rising, the government is under pressure to provide more support to households, who are facing rising costs for energy supplies and food.

But the public finances are already stretched after a pandemic response that cost hundreds of billions of pounds.