Whitehall job cuts could cost millions

Plans to cull thousands of civil service jobs in London could cost millions of pounds in compensation claims, ministers were warned today.

Up to 80,000 Whitehall jobs are to be axed under Gordon Brown's plans to slash government waste by £21billion.

But the Liberal Democrats say the bill for the redundancies could run to "tens of millions of pounds" as civil servants contest the dismissals.

Figures unearthed by Malcolm Bruce, the party's trade spokesman, show that since 1997 government departments have spent more than £10 million settling compensation claims.