SEVEN hundred Revenue and Customs jobs will be axed across Merseyside under Treasury plans. The Paymaster-General Dawn Primarolo confirmed the aim was to slash posts in the region from 6,100 to 5,400 by the end of 2008. But she insisted that most – if not all – of the cuts could be achieved through “natural wastage”. The jobs are spread across eight offices in Liverpool, three in Birkenhead, two in Bootle and one in St Helens, plus one each in Chester and Widnes. The ECHO revealed in November that some work would be under threat because of a national review of the network’s offices to cut 12,000 staff and save £30m. Ms Primarolo revealed the cuts in the area in a meeting with local MPs. Treasury officials today said her confirmation was “inadvertent” as ministers had promised further consultations in April. But Ms Primarolo indicated the blow to the region’s jobs could be softened by the long-promised dispersal of other civil service posts from the south east to Merseyside. Riverside MP Louise Ellman said: “It is clear that the overall national reductions will take place and that our region will be affected. “We must ensure that our losses are kept to the minimum and are offset by the relocation of other public service jobs, as promised under the Lyons Review. “That is vital for the regeneration of Liverpool. We need to attract more highly-skilled and well-paid jobs.” Birkenhead MP Frank Field said: “These offices are extremely important to the area and many of my constituents are concerned.” Merseyside is one of 25 areas targeted for job cuts, while remaining workers in Birkenhead are due to be relocated to a new centre in Liverpool’s Queen’s Dock. The service is already half-way through an earlier round of closure which will see 12,500 jobs go nationally, following the merger of HM Revenue and Customs and Excise. Chairman Paul Gray said that the overall aim was to create a “modern, effective revenue collection and enforcement department.” But public and commercial services union general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “It is foolhardy to think that cutting jobs and closing offices will improve service at a time when we have a backlog of a million items of post.”
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