Garry Graham, Prospect deputy general secretary, responding to Jeremy Hunt's comments that he would cancel all leave for civil servants in August, said:

“No peacetime government has ever been as reliant on its civil service as this one, and you’d think the Conservative party would be grateful for its work. Instead Jeremy Hunt wants to cancel all August leave for civil servants with less than a week’s notice, at the same time as MPs are going on a five week recess.

“This call for civil service leave to be cancelled smacks of panic and hypocrisy. Politicians would be better placed putting their own house in order and finding a political solution to what is a political issue.”