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Finito World
For decades, power in Britain has spoken in one accent and one postcode: SW1. But if the government’s new plan succeeds, the centre of gravity may be shifting. Under proposals announced this week, thousands of civil servants will be relocated from London to regional campuses in Manchester, Aberdeen and beyond — part of a broader strategy to reduce government headcount, save £94 million annually, and rebalance decision-making across the country.
To many, this feels long overdue. For all our national talk about “levelling up,” the institutions of power have remained rooted in the capital. Ministers may tour Newcastle and Darlington, but the real work — policy formation, committee briefs, and internal empire-building — has still mostly been done within earshot of Big Ben. That may be about to change.
The plan to house 50% of senior civil servants outside London by 2030 is more than symbolic. It’s a nod to a different kind of civil service — one that reflects the full geography of the nation. “We want a civil service that speaks with all the accents of the country,” said Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden. For once, rhetoric is matched with a blueprint: Manchester will become a hub for AI and digital innovation; Aberdeen for energy. Other cities — Birmingham, Leeds, York, Bristol — will also gain roles.
This could be, at last, the reinvention of Whitehall into “Everyhall.”
Yet while the plan is promising, it is also precarious. We’ve heard this tune before. Similar announcements have come and gone, often with minimal follow-through. As union leaders have rightly pointed out, the details matter. If you’re closing Petty France or Victoria Street, what happens to the people inside those buildings? How do you maintain the integrity of departments while also scattering their parts?
And what of career progression? Dave Penman of the FDA union was blunt: “Civil servants need to be able to build careers for the longer-term across the UK, including in London where there will now be fewer opportunities.” In other words, dispersal is only progress if accompanied by genuine development — otherwise, it’s just a game of HR musical chairs.
Nor is it clear yet whether this regionalisation is being done to strengthen the civil service — or simply to shrink it. Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to reduce government running costs by 15%. That may be fiscally prudent, but it carries risk. If the civil service is hollowed out in the process, institutional memory will go with it. And a nation without expertise at the top is one that will soon falter.
McFadden has suggested that new technology will help bind this more distributed workforce: virtual meetings, remote access, flexible hours. But there is a danger here, too. A civil service built on Zoom is not the same as one built on proximity. Good government often happens in the margins — the side conversation after the meeting, the rapport built over time. We must be careful not to confuse connectivity with cohesion.
Still, there is real potential here. For young professionals in Cardiff or Edinburgh, the prospect of serving in a meaningful government role without relocating to London is appealing. For towns that have long felt overlooked, the economic ripple effects could be substantial. According to government projections, the changes could inject £729 million into local economies by 2030.
The challenge now is not announcing the vision — it’s delivering it with care. That means investment in infrastructure, thoughtfulness about how offices are closed, and above all, respect for the human beings whose careers are being reshaped by spreadsheet logic.
There is something noble in the ambition to decentralise government. But nobility alone won’t do it. We must ensure that as power disperses, responsibility doesn’t disappear with it.
Because if this is done right, we won’t just hear more accents in the civil service. We’ll hear new ideas, grounded in real places, voiced by people who finally feel seen by the state they serve.
