PUBLIC sector employment as a share of the labour market has fallen to a 70-year low, new figures show.

About 16.9 per cent of all workers are employed in the public sector, the lowest figure since 1947, said the GMB union.

And just under one million public sector jobs have been lost since 2010 due to funding cuts, privatisation and outsourcing, a study by the union found.

National officer Rehana Azam said: “These shocking figures are a stark reminder of the scale of the catastrophe befalling our public services.

“Any sensible opportunities for efficiencies are long gone, funding reductions Johnson had allegedly reused the widely discredited referendum pledge that up to £350m a week extra could be spent on the NHS after Brexit.

But a spokesman for the Foreign Secretary said: “Boris has spoken to Norgrove and he has made clear that he was complaining about the headlines and not Boris’ piece.”

years to negotiate with Canada.

Mrs May hopes to use Ceta as a model for a new bilateral arrangement between Britain and Canada to be introduced “swiftly” after Brexit.

In a separate development, Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, called for the UK Parliament to be recalled if it became clear Mrs May was about to signal a major change in her Brexit policy in a speech she is due to make in Italy on Friday.

He said: “With senior Government ministers openly backing opposing and incompatible Brexit positions, while the negotiations are ongoing, Theresa May must urgently clarify who speaks for the UK Government.”

are now cutting into sheer bone.

“GMB’s members are performing miracles but the vital services they deliver are being strippedback and hollowed-out and denied the resources they need, and workers are being denied the fair pay rises they deserve.

“We should celebrate the fact that people are living longer, but if services don’t get additional funding then crises of provision are inevitable.”

The research comes amid continued union anger over the pay cap on public sector workers.

T h e G o v e r n m e n t announced the cap will be lifted for police and prison officers but no decision has yet been made about millions of other public sector employees.