'70% UK tech jobs may go to India, China'

An estimated 70% of public sector information technology (IT) jobs in Britain could be moved abroad to cheaper economies like India or China, a top official of a leading IT firm has said.

Bill Thomas, head of EDS's European, African and Middle East units, told The Daily Telegraph newspaper that he expected a dramatic change in public sector IT personnel as former civil servants employed by private sector groups faced the prospect of losing their jobs to off-shoring.

The Texas-based EDS is the biggest supplier of IT to the government.

According to the report the news will cause extreme concerns for union leaders, who have already threatened strike action if employers, such as the US giant EDS, start to lay off staff.

Thomas said 60 to 70% of the 8,000 EDS employees working on government contracts including major projects for the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Work and pensions did not need to be employed in Britain.