Fifth of Treasury jobs to be relocated to the North

THE Treasury is to move a fifth of its staff to a new “economic campus” in the North, Rishi Sunak has announced.

He said offices will also be opened in Wales and Northern Ireland, adding to an existing presence in Scotland.

The Chancellor said officials with economic responsibilities from other departments would also be based in some of the new locations, which have not yet been decided.

Mr Sunak said the new offices were part of Boris Johnson’s “levelling up” agenda to spread economic opportunity to all corners of the UK. He added: “We believe in making sure that wherever you live in this country there is opportunity for you.

“That’s what levelling up means in practice. I want to make sure that the Treasury is at the front foot of that. We are driving economic policy in this country and it’s important that we have a presence everywhere in this country.”

Asked how voters will be able to judge whether the government has fulfilled its promise to

“level up” the country by the time of the 2024 election, Mr Sunak told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: “You will be able, of course, to measure it in the stats on income growth.

“You’ll be able to measure it in where we’re making our investments in infrastructure.

“It’s about spreading opportunity, and it’s making sure that wherever you live in this country, we can fulfil your aspirations; that opportunity should be the same wherever you happen to grow up, whether it’s a rural area in the South-west, or a town in the North-east.”