EK NEWS FIGHTS TO KEEP HMRC IN EK
Thousands of jobs are on the line Dire impact for town Big part of heritage of East Kilbride will be lost
Today the East Kilbride News joins forces with the Stay in EK campaign – and urges the UK Government to keep HMRC tax offices in the town.
Plans to close Plaza Tower by 2021 and Centre 1 by 2025 were announced last year.
Politicians from all sides, union officials and businesses have hit out at the proposals.
Around 2700 jobs are on the line but another 2000 people could be indirectly affected due to the devastating economic impact of HMRC quitting East Kilbride.
The News believes the decision to close the tax offices in East Kilbride with operations run from a new regional centre in Glasgow must be reversed.
And that is why we are proud to be teaming up with the Stay in EK group who are convinced they can win the fight to keep HMRC in EK – with support from the people of the town and wider area.
Chris Thompson, a former East Kilbride councillor who is part of the Stay in EK campaign group, argues of HMRC’s planned move:
Almost 5000 jobs will be affected directly and indirectly.
Relocating services to Glasgow will cost more money.
Staying in East Kilbride will represent value for money.
Mr Thompson cites a revealing public accounts committee report from April which raises a number of issues regarding relocation to Glasgow.
And he has warned HMRC that they could be on the verge of making an expensive mistake.
“The loss of 2700 jobs and the associated economic benefit for the town is clearly my biggest concern ,” Mr Thompson said.
“And it has been estimated that the total impact will include an additional 2000 jobs which are supported indirectly in the local economy.
“It has also come to my attention that the business case for relocation is fundamentally flawed and that the proposed move to Glasgow will actually cost the public purse more money than staying in East Kilbride.
“This has been confirmed by the House of Commons committee of public accounts report dated April 28, 2017. This report is very critical about the lack of robust business planning and calls for a complete rethink of the business case.”
The report states that MPs do not believe HMRC’s plan will s ave as much cash as predicted; do not believe regional hubs need to be based in cities; have concerns about additional public sector costs in other areas and are worried about the disruption to collecting tax and serving customers. “I am convinced that HMRC can obtain much better value for money by keeping its offices in East
Kilbride rather than pursuing a disruptive move to Glasgow where I believe lease terms would be considerably more expensive,” added Mr Thompson.
East Kilbride SN PMS P Linda Fabiani hopes Holyrood can add support to the campaign.
She said: “With t he assistance from the East Kilbride News, there is a real opportunity here for the Stay in EK campaign to widen the reach of their campaign and send a loud and clear message to the UK Government that their plans to close HMRC offices in East Kilbride are deeply flawed, unwanted and need to be stopped.
“The UK Government ’s plans to close East Kilbride’s tax offices will remove over 2500 jobs from our town, causing real damage to our local community.
“The knock-on effect on our local economy will be huge. The plans are nothing more than a desire to implement cuts by stealth across the public services in general and the civil service and HMRC in particular.
“Next week I will in parliament lead a members’ debate on the planned HMRC tax centre closures.
“It follows a motion I lodged before recess, where I welcomed the PCS Union report ‘Fighting for Tax Jobs, Fighting for Tax Justice’.
“The debate will give us the chance to discuss the government’s rash and poorly consulted proposals.
“There is already a crossparty consensus to keep HMRC in East Kilbride.
“There is a strong case to save these jobs–what we need to do now is fight for them every step of the way.”
Central Scotland MSP Graham Simpson (Conservatives) has vowed to do all he can to keep HMRC in East Kilbride.
He said :“Everyone in the town would like to see HMRC stay here and I am no different.
“I have spoken to HMRC on this in the past and will do so again.
“I’ll do all I can to put the case for them staying in East Kilbride.
“The town can ill afford to lose such a major employer and HMRC would be risking losing a great deal of expertise were they to put their employees through all the upheaval of moving.”
Monica Lennon, Central Scotland MSP for Labour, is also adamant that HMRC
should remain exactly where they are.
She said: “HMRC job losses from East Kilbride will have an extremely negative impact on t he whole community, potentially affecting thousands of people.
“I completely back the efforts of PCS and the Stay in EK campaign to keep HMRC jobs in the town.”
Craig Smith is chair of the East Kilbride Taskforce and managing director of the Greystone Group.
He feels businesses would be badly affected in the coming years by HMRC’ s move from East Kilbride.
“The Grey stone Group has been in East Kilbride for 23 years,” he said. “As smallto-medium enterprise, we would support the ‘Stay in EK’ campaign.
“The proposed digitisation of HMRC is putting more burden onto businesses, taking up too much time and financial resources.
“We need more advice and guidance from local staff on compliance rather than fines for being caught out by online misinterpretation or software hitches.
“The loss of more jobs in East Kilbride has a wide impact on the town as a whole and as a community we must do all we can to be listened to by those in HMRC making these unfeasible decisions.
“We must all support ‘Stay in EK’.”
Next week we will explain how YOU, our loyal readers, can get behind the Stay in EK campaign as we urge HMRC to think again.