MPs to demand Ministers pause decision to close Sheffield office

Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield will lead a debate in the Commons over the Government’s decision to close the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills’s St Paul’s Place office in the city.

Mr Blomfield and fellow Sheffield MPs have been calling for the Government to suspend the move while the National Audit Office carries out a cost-benefit analysis.

The closure of the office and the moving of its 247 jobs to London has been the subject of sustained criticism since the announcement in January and contrasted with the Government’s commitment to creating a ‘northern powerhouse”.

The chairmen of two Commons committees also took the unusual move of publicly questioning evidence over the closure given to them by the top civil servant at BIS.

They described the answers given by Martin Donnelly over the decision as “obfuscatory, if not misleading”.

Mr Blomfield said: “The proposal to move jobs from Sheffield to London makes no financial sense, nor is it the way to draw on talent from across the country.

“Figures show it will cost £2.5 million more a year to move these functions to London, not to mention the impression this gives of the Government’s so-called Northern Powerhouse.

“I hope ministers will respond positively to our calls to step back and look again.”