UK Foreign Office to leave its base in East Kilbride

The SNP MSP for East Kilbride has called for an urgent meeting after the UK Foreign Office announced plans to move around 1,000 members of staff from South Lanarkshire to Glasgow city centre

East Kilbride town centre. Image: John Devlin/National World.

The UK Foreign Office is to leave its offices in East Kilbride in the next three years.

Around 1,000 members of staff will be moved from Abercrombie House in the South Lanarkshire town to an unconfirmed location in Glasgow city centre at some point after 2025.

The SNP warn this will be a “hammer-blow” to the local economy in East Kilbride.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office says there are no planned job losses, and the move to Glasgow will “widen the department’s future talent pool”.

It is due to redeploy 500 additional members of staff to Scotland by 2025.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: “The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is growing its presence and number of staff in Scotland.

“HMRC will be moving into Abercrombie House, which is a building that is already part of the UK Government estate, providing better value for money to the taxpayer and which will continue to boost the economy of East Kilbride.

“HMRC is still at the early stages of plans for the building and hopes to confirm timelines in the spring.”

Collette Stevenson, SNP MSP for East Kilbride, is now urging Dr Lisa Cameron MP to speak out against the decision.

Dr Cameron, MP for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, recently defected from the SNP to the Conservatives.

Ms Stevenson said: “After promising more jobs would come to East Kilbride, the Westminster government’s decision to axe around 1,000 jobs based in East Kilbride is a hammer-blow to our town and local economy.

“What will be especially horrifying to local residents is that this decision was taken by David Cameron, an unelected Tory lord with no democratic mandate.

“As MSP for East Kilbride I am calling on all elected representatives to speak out against this decision, including Lisa Cameron MP, who must stand up for her constituents in the face of this appalling decision from her party.”

She has now requested an “urgent” meeting with the UK Government.

The Public and Commercial Services Union says it is raising concerns about the cost for individual workers who will now have to commute from South Lanarkshire to Glasgow, and say they want assurances there will be no compulsory redundancies.

South Lanarkshire Council Leader Joe Fagan added he is “frankly astounded” at the announcement, saying the reasons the UK Government have given for the move are “weak, to say the least”.

This comes as the UK Government also announced it was bringing forward plans to relocate more than 20,000 civil service jobs outside London to 2027.

These plans include making Aberdeen the second headquarters for the Department for Energy Security alongside Salford.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack says this is “great news” as it demonstrates the government’s commitment to the “north-east of Scotland and to our oil and gas and renewables sectors”.