GORDON BROWN was under fire last night over his pledge to shift civil service jobs from London to the North when it emerged the posts moved more than 15 months ago.

The Liberal Democrats condemned the Chancellor's "reannouncements" of Ministry of Defence posts heading for Harrogate and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) jobs moving to Newcastle.

Mr Brown used his pre-Budget report to announce 1,230 MoD posts to be moved to North Yorkshire. But the cadets, trainers and administrative staff were moved in September.

Furthermore, a large proportion of the 1,230 jobs were moved to Cambridgeshire, rather than to the Army Foundation College in Harrogate.

The DWP confirmed the decision to shift 592 jobs to Newcastle - but said the jobs had moved between September 2003 and last April.

Earlier this year, Mr Brown said 20,000 public sector jobs would be moved out of London and the South-East to boost economic growth in the North. But most of the relocations announced so far have been lower-paid clerical posts, rather than the most highly-prized and highly-paid jobs - those in policy-making and science.

Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor, said the Government had since announced the setting up of the regulator for foundation hospitals and the pension protection fund - both in London. He said: "With the latest technology, there is simply no need for everyone to work in London."

But in his speech, Mr Brown described the MoD and DWP jobs as "further steps on the way to a total by 2010 of 20,000 civil service jobs relocated to the regions".

Mr Brown also announced the creation of "science cities" at Newcastle, York and Manchester, which will see each city receive a slice of £100m from the regional development agencies to further the development of science.

In the North-East, the money will be used to advance work in areas such as life sciences and nanotechnology and will help create research and development departments in the cities.

Scientists at Newcastle's Centre for Life are leading the world with their research to create stem cells from unfertilised human eggs to pioneer new treatments to tackle diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes.

Alan Clarke, One NorthEast chief executive, said: "The region is now very much at the cutting edge of research and development with all the potential economic benefits that can bring to our region in terms of high-quality jobs, increased international profile and business development."