THE Scotland Office has passed on, it is no more, it has ceased to be.
After more than 130 years the diminutive department which is meant to represent Scottish interests in Whitehall and the UK Government in Scotland has undergone a Dr Who-style transformation.
The words Scotland Office have been scrubbed out over the doorway at Dover House and the plaque welcoming folk to HM Scotland Office has been removed and replaced.
The Scottish Office, created in 1885, and which became the Scotland Office after devolution, has now become: the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland.
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After a consultation it appears some voters admitted to being somewhat confused and thought the Scotland Office was an arm of the Scottish Government.
A UK Government spokeswoman explained: “The change ensures people can be confident about which responsibilities the UK Government delivers and are able to identify which issues have been devolved. This will make clear the extensive role of the UK Government in delivering for people in Scotland.”
The OSSS, as it will lovingly become known, said the cost to the taxpayer of the rebranding was “less than £10,000”; which, it helpfully pointed out, was a fraction of the £100,000 the Scottish Government spent on rebranding itself from its former guise as the Scottish Executive.
Since the 2014 independence referendum there has been a push by Whitehall to brand projects with the UK Government logo to ensure Scots know how much Theresa May and her colleagues are doing for public works north of the border.
The rebranding means in Scotland the office will be known as UK Government Scotland while in the rest of the United Kingdom, where Whitehall feels there is a need to distinguish between different UK Government departments, it will be known as the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland.
The only remnant of the old Scotland Office is its emails, which still bear the address @scotlandoffice.
The corporate identity change has also extended itself across the road in Whitehall to the Welsh Office, which has now become the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales. However, the Northern Ireland Office apparently remains as it was: the Northern Ireland Office.
Yet the news of the transmogrification has not, it appears, made its way 100 yards down the road to Downing Street.
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When a No 10 spokesman was asked about the abolition of the Scotland Office, he appeared unaware there had been any change, insisting: “The Scotland Office continues to do the work the Scotland Office always has.”
Only it isn’t because it no longer exists.
Tommy Sheppard for the SNP suggested it was “bizarre” that, given all the troubles befalling the Conservative Government, it should concern itself with rebranding A corner of Whitehall.
“They need to admit the Scotland Office has had its day and wind it up. It’s a dead parrot,” declared the Edinburgh MP, adding: “You can change the name but what on earth is the point of it; other than to keep David Mundell in a job.”
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