Gavin Newlands, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, has highlighted new figures which show that the UK Government has cut 1 in 6 reserved departmental civil service jobs since 2011; driven by drastic cuts to DWP jobs.
HMRC has lost 7.3% of their staff since 2011 – with another 2,000 jobs set to go soon – and the DWP has slashed 23.4% of its workforce in Scotland. In total, over 17% of civil servants working for the UK government in Scotland have been cut – compared to only a 3.7% fall in London.
Last month it was announced that the UK Government were closing their DWP Lonend administrative offices in Paisley.
Mr Newlands wrote to the UK Government’s Minister for Employment expressing his deep disappointment about this closure and the economic impact the closure will have on Paisley.
Gavin Newlands, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, said: “These independent statistics show that the UK Government are slashing public sector jobs left, right and centre with little consideration that they have on the individuals or communities affected.
“Despite Tory rhetoric to the contrary – the UK government clearly sees Scotland as an easy target – depleting Scotland’s civil service by 17.3% while the London civil service saw only a 3.7% reduction in its workforce over the same period. They think they can do what they like to Scotland and get away with it.
“The closure of Paisley’s Lonend offices will obviously affect local workers and the economy of Paisley – something which the UK Government has failed to acknowledge whatsoever.