Newport West AM Rosemary Butler has backed  Inland Revenue and Customs employees in Newport who don't want to move to Cardiff. A Whitehall plan to move the Newport HMRC office to Llanishen is currently under consultation.

But during a debate on public services in the National Assembly Mrs Butler said it would be extremely difficult for many of those involved to travel to Cardiff.The increase in traffic wouldn't help the environment and would add to road congestion between Newport and Cardiff, she added.

She also said it would affect members of the general  public in Newport.

"People in Newport are used to having a tax office  in the middle of the City and very much appreciate it.The people who use it aren't the sort of people who use accountants - it's the average Joe in the street who goes in to get advice, and I know it's very much appreciated by the local ethnic communities".

Referring to other civil service jobs which have been moved from London to Newport she said:

"It just seems perverse to me that on one hand we've got jobs coming out of London to Newport. On the other hand we've got jobs coming out of Newport, and going somewhere else.

"I'm very pleased that the First Minister is making strong representations to the Government. I think it's very important that we have a whole range of jobs within all cities."

Wednesday, March 7th