Ed Balls: Labour Government 'Would Move Civil Servants Out of London'

A Labour government would move more civil service jobs outside London and devolve economic power and funding to city and county regions, according to Ed Balls.

In a speech in Birmingham, the shadow chancellor will outline Labour's plan to make savings in order to get the deficit down "fairly" and "rebalance the economy".

"I will ask every government department to draw up a plan for civil service relocation outside London. And a Labour Treasury will set an objective for savings over the course of the next decade," Balls is expected to say.

He is expected to add: "The last Labour government made progress on moving civil service jobs and government activities outside London.

"Indeed, as Schools Secretary I oversaw the move of the QCA/Ofqual to Coventry.

"But I'm clear that the next Labour government will need to go further. And we will."

The policy announcement will come ahead of the launch of the party's second interim report on public spending, which is led by the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Chris Leslie.

Civil service job proportion increased in capital

The Zero-Based Review concentrates on the government's assets and liabilities and found the proportion of civil service jobs located in London has increased since 2010.

"We have to devolve from Whitehall and back local businesses and local government to invest and grow and shape solutions to local challenges," Balls added.

"One of the things this government did was to abolish the Regional Development Agencies – a destructive act which Business Secretary Vince Cable described as 'Maoist and chaotic'.

"The Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), which have been put in their place, have too little power and too little resource to really make a difference.

"But our local economies cannot withstand another major upheaval of the local growth infrastructure.

"Evolution, not revolution, is the right way forward.

"So our approach is to strengthen partnerships between local authorities and independent LEPs – and the business and higher education leaders represented by LEPs.

"And we will have a bold offer of devolution to city and county regions, as recommended by the Adonis report.

"The next Labour government will radically devolve power and £30bn ($47bn, €37bn) of funding over a Parliament to city and county regions in every part of England. Not just a northern powerhouse, but a Midlands powerhouse too. Devolution not just to cities, but across all our towns and county regions too."

The comments come after Chancellor George Osborne announced Greater Manchester will get its own directly elected mayor with powers over transport, housing, planning and policing.

The plan is the latest step in the Conservative MP's move to create a so-called "Northern Powerhouse" to create jobs and use the full potential of the North's economy.

The directly elected Mayor of Greater Manchester will, among other things, control a £300m Housing Investment Fund as well as take on the role covered by the region's Police and Crime Commissioner, Labour's Tony Lloyd.