Crunch talks in HMRC jobs row
West Lothian politicians met with the Secretary of State for Scotland last week to discuss the future of HMRC jobs in the area.
Hannah Bardell MP and Neil Findlay MSP met with Tory MP David Mundell MP to try and save around 750 jobs in West Lothian as part of a ‘mini hub’.
The meeting comes after the UK Government decided to centralise the Livingston and Bathgate HMRC offices to Edinburgh, putting 1200 West Lothian jobs at risk and potentially costing the local economy around £8.5million.
The politicians also met in December as Ms Bardell and Mr Findlay, along with union bosses, presented the case for keeping HMRC jobs in the area.
Following last Monday’s meeting Ms Bardell said that there were still “different views” on how the planned change had been conducted but that a “constructive way forward” had been agreed.
Ms Bardell said: “I was very pleased to have secured this meeting with the Secretary of State and whilst there were different views on the way the HMRC change programme has been conducted and the impact and views on staff, there was broad agreement that West Lothian must keep as many HMRC jobs as possible and a constructive way forward has been agreed.
“Many continue to be unhappy about the move to Edinburgh and the case remains, in the view of most politicians of all parties, flawed.
“However, we have agreed that West Lothian Council will convene a working group which will be cross party and multi disciplinary involving the Scottish Government, UK Government, unions and local authority.
“This group will work together on the broader issue of how the City Deal can benefit West Lothian, jobs and the economy, but focus on what opportunities there are to develop a hub in West Lothian especially given we have one of the lowest concentrations of public sector jobs in Scotland.
“The issue of one to ones was pressed and agreed by all of the politicians, and the Secretary of State has given an undertaking to work on this issue with HMRC.”
Neil Findlay said that the meeting was both constructive and disappointing.
He said: “The meeting was constructive in some regards and disappointing in others. The Secretary of State listened to PCS reps, the Council officials and Councillors, MSPs and MPs and gave a commitment to get involved in a West Lothian taskforce to look at bringing new jobs to the Pyramids.
“He did not give any commitment to reverse the loss of the HMRC office and that was very disappointing however all parties around the table agreed to work together to try and maintain good quality jobs in West Lothian.”
David Mundell’s office was contacted for comment but said that they did not always comment on individual meetings.
All parties agreed to work together to maintain jobs