DOZENS of angry workers took to the streets of Birmingham in protest at a “scandalous” Government-backed event promoting the Civil Service – while up to 600 face the chop in the city.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union handed out protest leaflets outside the International Convention Centre in anger at the Midlands’ first ever Civil Service Live conference.

Government employees from across the city ringed the ICC amid outrage at the timing of the Birmingham event, with hundreds of civil servants in the city facing being thrown out of work.

Representatives from the Department for Work and Pensions, Birmingham City Council and the Ministry of Justice were among 2,000 delegates gathered at the ‘Civil Service Live – The Midlands’ conference at the ICC.

In Birmingham alone, up to 600 civil servants face the dole queue, inluding 300 at regional development agency Advantage West Midlands, which is to close.

More than 2000 will also go at the Government Office West Midlands, which is also shutting, and others at Ofwat and the city’s Equality and Human Rights office.