We will press case to keep civil service jobs
South Lanarkshire Council leader Joe Fagan also hit out at the decision to relocate the FCDO away from East Kilbride.
He said:“East Kilbride was promised that the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the Department for International Development would not adversely affect jobs in town but that promise has been broken.
“The UK Civil Service is relocating more jobs to Scotland, and that is welcome, but those jobs are not coming to East Kilbride despite assurances that they would, and that is deeply troubling. We have to make a strong, unified case as a community for civil service jobs to be retained and relocated in East Kilbride.
“Moving HMRC to Abercrombie House might secure tax office jobs for the time being but the loss of the FCDO means there will be a net reduction in the number of civil service jobs based in the town. It feels like East Kilbride has been mucked about and let down.
“We have good sites in East Kilbride that could accommodate the civil service and I want all the town’s representatives backing calls to strengthen the civil service presence in the town. Our council has robustly made the case for locating in East Kilbride to the FCDO and we will have further meetings with the government to press the case further.
“Civil service jobs helped make the town what it was in the past and they can be part of a new future for East Kilbride, if only government would see sense.
“I welcome cross-party support for civil service jobs in East Kilbride. Let’s turn cross-party support into meaningful action and make the government realise East Kilbride’s potential as a hub for good civil service jobs.”