Just one per cent of staff hired by UK Government 'Levelling Up' department are in Scotland

Only one per cent of staff hired by the UK Government’s controversial 'Levelling Up' department is based in Scotland. Downing Street has claimed billions of pounds are to be spent on projects across the four nations, which they say will shift wealth away from London.

But figures released under Freedom of Information has shown only 34 out of 3,436 staff are located north of the Border – despite Scotland having about eight per cent of the UK population.

The majority of staff – 65.8 per cent – are based in Whitehall, even though Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed the aim of levelling up was to move jobs and prosperity to other parts of Britain.

Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said: “Levelling up was never anything but an empty slogan for this charlatan Tory government.”

The FoI release follows a decision by the Department for Work & Pensions in March to axe 1100 civil servant jobs and close 42 offices, including eight north of the Border.

Labour’s shadow Levelling Up Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “This is an absolute joke. Ministers and officials who are supposed to be levelling up are sitting behind a desk in Whitehall, drawing lines on a map and picking winners and losers in our nations and regions.”

Economy spokesperson Willie Rennie said: “It was always clear that levelling up was just a convenient Conservative slogan, not an actual policy commitment. The UK needs to move more jobs out of the capital and invest in projects such as transport links and faster broadband which help communities to flourish.”

The UK Government’s Scottish Levelling Up operation has offices in Edinburgh and Inverness. Its director earns £144,000 a year – more than the £93,000 Nicola Sturgeon is paid as First Minister.

Westminster claims £212million has already been allocated to projects in Scotland since Levelling Up was launched in February – including £173,400 for a drones hub at Oban airport, £16.48million to regenerate Granton Waterfront in Edinburgh and £13million to transform stables in Glasgow’s Pollok Park.

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