Spending on civil servants significantly favours London and the South East, it has been claimed.

Highlighting figures published by the government, the SNP said London has more senior jobs than its population share would merit.

London has 29 per cent of the top three civil service grades compared to 12.4 per cent of the population.

That means it has 131 per cent more top jobs than its population share.

And the wider South East region has 48 per cent more senior jobs than its population share.

In comparison Northern Ireland has 75 per cent fewer top jobs than its population share, while the East of England 63 per cent fewer, the Midlands has 47 per cent fewer, Scotland 24 per cent fewer and the North 22 per cent fewer.

SNP Treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie said the data was "devastating for the government as it confirms the huge additional spending on civil servants in London and the South East compared to every other part of the UK".

"It also undermines Ken Livingstone's arguments about subsidy in the UK – it is his city that benefits from hidden subsidies in the form of high wages, better jobs and the knock on effect these have on the general London economy," he added.

"In some cases wages in the nations and regions are 20 or 30 percent lower than in London.

"The additional cost to taxpayers runs into millions – we are paying for 15,000 extra jobs in the capital.

"These bring a £600m benefit to that city – money that could provide a welcome boost to the economies of the various nations and regions of the UK.

"If Scotland had its fair share of senior civil service posts, we'd see hundreds of higher grade and better paid jobs in Scotland, bringing a £30m wages boost to the economy and saving the taxpayer more than £20m."

Hosie added that the Foreign Office, Treasury and Department for Culture, Media and Sport have no core staff in Scotland even though "each provides a supposed UK-wide service".