"In a time of cuts, we must go for the best and most efficient option - best for the forces, most efficient for the gov't and the taxpayer. That means all posts 100% mil. Civvy's don't fight, carry weapons, hold NBC quals, or have fitness certifcates."
Why is getting rid of the CS the most cost effective option to the taxpayer? CS wage bill is approx £3Bn per year, the armed forces wage bill is approx £8 Bn per year. 60% of the CS earn under £26K per year - in the armed forces any at the rank of Cpl or above earns that. CS also do not attract any form of allowances or myriad of other benefits like cheap housing, subsidised gyms etc.
More to the point much of the work of the CS is either very admin like in nature, so it does seem a little pointless to employ legions of forces personnel to do a job that could be done by a civvy for a third of the price (my old Cpl in London was living in a Canary Wharf flat, with a free travel card and return trips home every week - doing the same job that an E2 civil servant could have done for £14K per year with no perks and same hours).
As for the work - given that many CS are rocket scientists etc, where do you propose to get the brains trust from to deliver overnight the deep expertise needed to keep places like DIS or DSTL running? Or do you think it makes sense to recruit thousands of extra military teachers and security guards and canteen assistants, dockyard workers, crane operators etc.
The total bill to the UK for replacing the MOD CS with Mil would add several billion per year in order to put Mil into jobs which are being done well by trained civilians for half - third of the price. In what way is this value for money?
Personally I think the whole 'whinging civvies are idle, jobsworth useless' argument is about as relevant and interesting as 'mil are overpaid, useless, arrogant, primadonnas'. Both Mil and Civ play a vital role in defence - some of us do very pointy exciting stuff, others do very dull and thankless tasks - however, it all works together as one team, and trying to make out that civvies are unterrmensch for daring not to wear uniform or a flying suit is divisive, and in my opinion not something that does the Military any credit.