Wick Tax Office: John Thurso Meets New Minister

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 14th Oct 2008

Local MP John Thurso, together with colleagues, today met with newly appointed Financial Secretary, Stephen Timms, to ask him to retain the Wick HMRC office.

Speaking after the meeting John Thurso said:

"The Minister has only been in post for a week and this was an opportunity to seek to persuade him of the importance of the Wick Tax Office not only to local businesses but also to our efforts for economic regeneration. I also asked him to review the decision to impose public sector job cuts at a time of impending recession when such employment is vital to maintaining economic activity in fragile areas. In addition I expressed my anger at the failure of the consultation process to take account of socio economic consequences despite promises made by the previous HMRC Chairman. Finally I asked the Minister to confirm there would be no compulsory redundancies for staff who choose not to relocate."

"The Minister did give an undertaking that while there may be compulsory redundancies in the longer term, none were envisaged in the short to medium term. He also promised to look carefully at the representations made regarding the Office and to take into account the points made".

John Thurso added:

"As a member of the Treasury Select Committee I have looked at HMRC's plans and I am convinced that the closure of Wick would yield no savings to Government whatsoever. Further the lesson of DWP's move to a call centre has been a massive reduction in quality of service to local people which I would anticipate as the inevitable consequence if HMRC removes qualified staff and replaces them with lower paid operators. Together with my colleagues we will be asking for a debate on the floor of the House to consider the impact of HMRC plans on rural economies".