The Treasury’s new northern campus in Darlington has become a ‘blueprint’ for the Government’s ‘levelling up’ policy and more civil servants should be ‘fast tracked’ out of London, it has been claimed.

Treasury North in Darlington was planned to hold 750 civil servants. It is part of the government’s plans to move 22,000 civil servants out of London by the end of the decade.

Rishi Sunak: More organisations & government departments want to come to Darlington

Now, the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) say moving a further 31,196 civil servants outside of London would save the Government an extra £217m a year.

The proposals would mean each department would have around 40 per cent of their staff out of London on average, and could create 70 new offices the same size as Treasury North, according to TPA.

Tom Ryan, researcher at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Moving civil service jobs out of London is both good for taxpayers and for getting government out into the real world.

“Paying for the prime location of Whitehall pen-pushers costs a small fortune, with operating costs alone running into the hundreds of millions, while keeping policy-making jobs locked in the capital.

“Roles should be relocated so that the civil service can be better opened up to the rest of the country and sensible savings can be made.”

Earlier this month, Chancellor Rishi Sunak told the Commons Treasury Committee his department in Darlington was set to be “joined by several other departments… either related to government or other bits of government”.

But he said the names of the organisations were not public yet.

Senior staff at the Treasury began working in Darlington in October as part of Boris Jonson’s aim to decentralise Government and spread his senior politicians and officials around the country to gain a better understanding of the issues that affect people outside London.

Until the new Economic Campus is built, the teams will be based alongside Department for Education colleagues at Bishopsgate House behind the council offices and then Feethams House opposite the DL1 leisure complex.

Mr Sunak said: “Our campus in Darlington is one of the ways we are delivering on our commitment to level up by opening up job opportunities in the region.”