Merger means thousands of Whitehall jobs may go North

THE Government could move part of its new foreign and commonwealth superdepartment to Manchester, creating hundreds of jobs.

Ministers are considering the plan – after the merger of the Foreign Office with the Department for International Development – to decentralise the civil service by moving sections from London to regions of England.

Sir Philip Barton, Permanent Under- Secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, raised the possible shift North in a department meeting.

The Institute for Government estimates around 90,000 out of a total 430,000 civil servants are Londonbased. Creating jobs in the North- west would help with Government plans to “level up” the UK, said a Whitehall source. “This, along with plans for other departments, will be strongly considered,” he said.

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said it is “vitally important that decision makers are close to people” when he confirmed parts of the civil service would be relocated from London.