THE Foreign Office will seek to accelerate its exit from a Scottish town, as the department backtracked claims the move would be delayed.
The UK Government department is seeking to begin its exit from Abercrombie House in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, by early 2027.
It had previously been reported the move would be delayed until 2031.
The Foreign Office’s departure from East Kilbride in favour of Glasgow, which is more than 15 miles away, has previously been described as a “betrayal” of the town.
In a letter to the Foreign Affairs Committee chair Emily Thornberry (below), top civil servant Philip Barton said the Foreign Office wanted to make the move “as quickly as we can”.
He said: “Our hope is that the move can begin in late 2026/early 2027.”
Barton, the permanent under-secretary of state at the Foreign Office, refused to say how much the move was expected to cost given ongoing “sensitive negotiations”.
The department expects to increase the number of senior civil servants based in Scotland from 20 to 70 by the end of 2027, Barton added.
He said there could be job benefits for Glasgow in the move, which will also involve around 500 Foreign Office staff members based in London being asked to move north of the Border.
Around 250 members of staff had said they would be interested in the move, Barton said, with an expectation that a “a good proportion of the roles will be filled through recruitment exercises”.
