POLITICIANS from across the political spectrum have hit out at Boris Johnson after he after he announced the scrapping of the Department for International Development, meaning Scottish jobs could be cut.
The PM said it is “outdated” to keep the Department for International Development (Dfid) – which has a base in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire – as a separate department.
As many as 600 people are employed by the DFiD, which supports some of the world's most vulnerable people through disaster, disease and destitution.
Johnson has revealed it is being merged with the Foreign Office.
Johnson said: “We must now strengthen our position in an intensely competitive world by making sensible changes.
“And so I have decided to merge Dfid with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to create a new department, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.”
READ MORE: 'Cast-iron guarantee' call on Scots jobs over DFiD merger
SNP MSP for East Kilbride Linda Fabiani attacked the UK Government.
She said: “In the midst of an economic crisis, Boris Johnson has put the future of hundreds of Scottish jobs in doubt.
“Today’s announcement is a real blow to the local community here in East Kilbride – especially in the current circumstances we all find ourselves in.”
Green MSP Ross Greer also raised his concerns about jobs.
“After the closure of HMRC offices and job centres, it’s clear the Tories don’t care how many jobs they destroy here or how much harm the loss of these services does to people in the UK and across the world,” he said.
“This is a nasty attempt to play to the worst instincts of Boris Johnson’s rich mates.
“Britain has a long, brutal legacy of wrongdoing across the world and the international development programme is one small way in which the government has sought to make amends for that.
“Now this racist Prime Minister is scrapping Dfid and squeezing the aid budget.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat international development spokeswoman Wendy Chamberlain was also critical of the PM’s decision to “abolish the department whose job is to support the most vulnerable people around the world”.
She added: “This decision shows the extent of the Prime Minister’s determination to see the UK turn its back on the world.”
It comes as the SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said Johnson must "deliver a cast-iron guarantee that all of these jobs are secure and that they will stay in East Kilbride".
The East Kilbride DFiD base is said to contribute £30 million for the local economy.
A petition opposing its closure attracted almost 30,000 signatures within two weeks of its launch last year.
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