WESTMINSTER ministers have imposed "drastic cuts" to jobs in the civil service with one-in-six of the UK Government posts axed in Scotland since 2011, official figures showed.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) slashed 23.4 per cent of its workforce in Scotland, while HM Revenue and Customs lost 7.3 per cent of its staff during that period.
In total, over 17 per cent of UK Government civil servants working in Scotland have been cut – compared to a 3.7 per cent fall in London, according to the Office for National Statistics.
SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald said the figures showed the UK Government viewed Scotland as an "easy target" for making "drastic cuts".
He said: “In 2011 the UK government boasted about the level of public sector jobs they had in Scotland. But as these stats show they have merrily slashed the number and we can probably expect more.
“Despite Tory rhetoric to the contrary the UK government clearly sees Scotland as an easy target, depleting Scotland’s civil service 17.3 per cent while the London civil service saw only a 3.7 per cent reduction in its workforce over the same period. They think they can do what they like to Scotland and get away with it."
The UK Government failed to respond to the figures.
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