TORY ministers have created a “climate of fear” for civil servants who show support for the Palestinian cause, PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote has said.

Office workers fear they will lose their jobs for wearing lanyards and pin badges calling for an end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, she told the Morning Star, adding that they have also been prevented from organising collections for charities seeking to ease Palestinian suffering.

“Regardless of your politics or beliefs, nobody wants to switch the telly on and see people blown apart,” Ms Heathcote said.

“But what the government has tried to do, which then has an impact on the message it gives to the Cabinet Office, is talk very much about that people shouldn’t be political, they shouldn’t take sides.”

Noting that her union’s members had been stopped from organising collections for organisations such as Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a registered charity that “we believe is legitimate,” the PCS leader said: “It seems bizarre that the Civil Service would stop that and say you can’t do that because ‘it’s overtly political or it’s not an organisation we would support.’

“There has never been an issue previously in supporting MAP and to introduce one at such a time we believe a genocide is being committed seems odd behaviour.

“We are having examples of people sent home because they wear a pin badge or they wear a lanyard for Palestine solidarity.”

Ms Heathcote did not name the  government departments where workers have ministers “breathing down their necks,” due to ongoing discussions with the Cabinet Office over plans to provide written guidance on the issue.

She added that Civil Service bosses would previously have left the creation of such guidance to the PCS.

“But that’s not the position being taken by a number of the departments now because … it’s about ministers having the ability to determine their policy more broadly and I think that’s leading to a bit of a climate of fear for people. People who want to show support, show solidarity, are feeling they could get into bother,” the general secretary said.

“It’s highly weaponised, it’s in the run-up to the general election, they don’t like the protest for Palestine. The ground is sinking beneath their feet.”

Ms Heathcote added that it would be an “outrage” if a PCS member lost their job for wearing pro-Palestinian paraphernalia, but she “wouldn’t put it past them to make an example [of someone].”

The Cabinet Office and MAP were contacted for comment.