Government's flagship Edinburgh hub 'signals end of UK ministers retreat' from Scotland
A new flagship UK Government hub in Edinburgh is a sign that ministers intend to reverse a "retreat" from Scotland, Alister Jack has said on his first visit to the completed building.
Queen Elizabeth House, which is located near Waverley Station, will become the office for approximately 3,000 UK Government workers, with civil servants from 11 departments to be based at the new building from September.
UK ministers hope the building will increase awareness of the UK Government’s work in Scotland and help forge links with Scottish academic institutions and civic society. It is a key part of a wider long-term strategy to counter support for independence, with UK ministers also visiting Scotland with increasing frequency.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and ministers including Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Business Secretary Alok Sharma have all made visits in recent weeks.
Mr Jack, the Scottish Secretary, claimed the increased presence of Government ministers since lockdown travel restrictions were eased is "not a knee-jerk reaction to recent opinion polls" showing growing support for separation.
He said it is instead a reaction to the sense the UK Government has "retreated a bit over the years".
"When I became Secretary of State for Scotland, the Prime Minister and I sat down and we talked about what we wanted to see," he said.
"One of the things we wanted to see was a greater presence of the UK Government in Scotland.
"This building exemplifies that but also we wanted to see more Cabinet ministers and UK Government ministers."
He added: "We want those ministers who have areas of responsibility up here to be seen to be in Scotland and engaging on a regular basis.
"We talked about that at the time - we felt that maybe we had retreated a bit over the years and it was time to push forward and get UK Government ministers back in Scotland."
Mr Jack said there has been "very close communication" between the Scottish and UK Governments during the pandemic despite some public criticism from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon about not being informed about certain decisions, such as the dropping of the "stay home" message.
