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City joins forces with Glasgow to grab share of civil service jobs

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Published Date: 20 February 2007
EDINBURGH is joining forces with Glasgow today in a bid to secure a share of 20,000 Government civil service jobs.
The Glasgow-Edinburgh collaboration director Laura Gordon will address a conference in London to pitch for thousands of jobs being moved out of Whitehall following a Government review.

Key selling points for both cities will be their waterfront r
egeneration schemes, transport links and the improved quality of life for civil servants relocating from London.

A review of Whitehall departments by Sir Michael Lyons in 2004 said Government could save £2 billion a year over 15 years by moving 20,000 posts out of London and axing a further 7000 jobs through "efficiency measures".

Sir Michael listed four Scottish areas - Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow and East Kilbride - as possible locations for moving civil servants and Ms Gordon is confident she can make the case for Scotland's biggest cities.

She said: "The cities will both be easy to sell. Both have outstanding regeneration projects, relatively low property rates, able workforces, and both cities are within short distances scenic areas."

Ms Gordon was appointed into her collaboration role last July and the project has attracted £1.6m of backing from both city councils and Scottish Enterprise.



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  • Last Updated: 20 February 2007 9:32 AM
  • Source: Edinburgh Evening News
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Public bodies relocation
 
1

lin,

Lin, Edinbugh 20/02/2007 12:54:23

Isn't it riduculous to punt this idea when they've been relocating Edinburgh civil service jobs!

2

Me here,

Edinburgh 20/02/2007 13:09:54

Crazy! Move Edinburgh jobs to anywhere but Edinburgh and then say Edinburgh is wonderful place to move London jobs to. What about leaving the Edinburgh jobs where they are and the London jobs to London and save the taxpayer many millions. Or is that too sensible an idea for this government?

3

peter_from_edinburgh,

20/02/2007 13:30:02

presumably we wouldn't even be talking about moving jobs to Scotland if iScotland was independent.... wouldn't England find its own low-cost locations (merseyside, middlesborough, etc) ?

4

Tomsk,

On the Wings of a Dove 20/02/2007 14:36:23

What beats me is that we are prepared to get into bed with Glasgow over this.

Hello! Wakey Wakey! It's Glasgow and Glaswegians that are taking our jobs away! Haven't you noticed!

5

eric,

Lothian 20/02/2007 15:20:10

I think with Glasgows Mixture of Modern and old Buildings its more attractive for Companies and Gvt,Glasgow has been working on this senario for decades now,It is well prepaired in advance for this.I Hope that all the Scottish cities and large towns, get some of the jobs,

6

Rod,

Kirkliston - Europe's Village Jewel. 20/02/2007 17:54:26

#4 Hello! Wakey Wakey! It's Glasgow and Glaswegians that are taking our jobs away! Haven't you noticed!

Indeed they have with several Glasgow MPs, MSPs and councillors actively lobbying to hijack Edinburgh based posts.
The SE data shows that the Glasgow economy is 27% reliant on public sector jobs. The Edinburgh figure is 22%.
The current situation is a bit like the Hood Robin stories i.e. robbing the poor to pay the rich.
If they must redistribute public sector jobse then why Edinburgh and Glasgow? Why not Fort Willian / Oban / Ullapool / Dingwall / Dumfries / Hawick etc etc? Is it because it is easier to 'buy' Labour votes in Glasgow at the taxpayer's expense? Surely little McConnell's bunch would not stoop as low as that?

7

Brad,

Glasgow 20/02/2007 19:26:07

#6, Maybe Fort William / Oban / Ullapool / Dingwall / Dumfries / Hawick haven't gone asking. They're far too small for anything substantial anyway. Glasgow and Edinburgh have large labour pools so you can recruit the people needed.

8

Rod,

Kirkliston 20/02/2007 19:48:09

#7 They're far too small for anything substantial

But surely not too small for smaller public sector operations of which there are many? After all, the stated policy was to 'benefit the whole of the nation' and not just an already over-represented city in terms of public sector employment.

9

GP,

21/02/2007 09:11:07

7# typical Glasgow response.
8# exactly plus with moder technology large monolithic site are no longer required, hence the move out of London. They are not Londond jobs they are I hope UK government related workloads.
Perhaps the same reason jobs were moved out of Edinburgh to the west for no other reason than political bribery.

10

Brad,

Glasgow 21/02/2007 10:26:11

#7, #8, Whitehall is apparently trying about moving 20,000 jobs - do you really think they want to deal with folk asking for 20 at a time? Maybe down the line, as has happened a bit from Edinburgh with stuff going to Dingwall, etc.

Technology hasn't really replaced the need - or at least the desire - for large sites... look at all the huge call centres that have sprung up in Glasgow. In theory - with some ICT installation - these folk could work from home, everything they need a mouse-click away. They can be monitored electronically. In practice it doesn't happen very often.

As for "typical Glasgow response", well maybe - but it makes a change from the predictable Edinburgh stuff on the site of 'Scotland's national newspaper'.

11

Kieron,

Stirling 21/02/2007 13:32:54

Alasdair (11) I couldn't have put it better myself.

12

GP,

21/02/2007 15:54:12

11# 12# you miss the point.
I did not advocate for jobs for edinburgh since I do not live there it makes no difference to me.
But technology is available and should be used to re-locate many more jobs out of London. I don't care where they are based and it makes sense to move them out of Glasgow and Edinburgh as well .
The jobs and associated cost of moving jobs from E to G is plainly political bribery and nothing to do with job dispersal.
Still numpties like you will always re-offend.


 

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