Michael Fabricant’s initial response to the Chancellor of Exchequer’s
Pre-Budget Report today was to express regret and say: "I am
disappointed that Gordon Brown was unable to say that any civil service
posts in London will move to bolster the fragile manufacturing economy
in the West Midlands. With closures in the car industry and elsewhere,
moving civil service jobs to the West Midlands would have been a welcome
boost to the economy. Instead, jobs have been moved to the North,
Wales, and places like Bournemouth."

Speaking in the House of Commons Chamber today, Gordon Brown said: "I
can announce the relocations of 1,230 Ministry of Defence posts from the
South East to North Yorkshire; 2,300 Department of Work and Pensions
posts to Liverpool, Wrexham, Newcastle and elsewhere; 600 from the
Office of National Statistics to South Wales; 220 from Revenue and
Customs to Cardiff, Liverpool, Bournemouth, Truro and Manchester –
further steps on the way to a total by 2010 of 20,000 civil service jobs
relocated to the regions."