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

Published on Tuesday 20 February 2007 11:59

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 regeneration 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.