Lord George Foulkes, a former Scotland Office minister, is urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander to force the SNP government to halt spending on what he calls "fake" foreign embassies and independence-related activity. His intervention follows revelations that the Scottish Government intends to expand its network of overseas offices from nine to more than 40, despite First Minister John Swinney's pledges to shrink the public sector. Foulkes argues this represents an improper use of devolved powers and a wasteful diversion of resources away from pressing domestic issues such as NHS waiting lists and education.

Foulkes wants the UK Government to issue a formal directive barring Holyrood from operating in reserved policy areas, and to consider ringfencing grant funding if the spending continues. The existing nine Scottish Government offices, including Scotland House in Brussels and London, employ 47 staff and cost taxpayers £7.2 million annually, while a separate agency, Scottish Development International, runs roughly 20 more offices worldwide that could be folded into the expanded network. The expansion plan features in the First Minister's Programme for Government, alongside pledges to cut public sector costs through NHS board reductions and quango mergers, a contrast Foulkes has branded hypocritical.