MORE than 3,000 job losses were announced yesterday, dealing a severe blow to government plans to tackle unemployment and support business as Britain heads deeper into recession.
Barclays, car maker Jaguar Land Rover, music retailer Zavvi, drugs company Pfizer, and conveyor-belt maker Fenner were among hard-hit employers to cut their workforce.
Home-shopping giant Gratton told its staff yesterday that up to 3,800 jobs co
uld be at risk following a review to bring the company back into profit.
Job cuts across all industries are being announced daily, with one industry group predicting that losses as a result of the global financial crisis will reach one million in 2010.
Barclays was the latest major banking institution to announce big lay-offs, revealing its plans to cut 2,100 jobs in its retail and commercial banking units, adding to redundancies of the same scale in its investment banking arms announced on Tuesday.
While many of the initial job cuts came in the financial services industry, redundancies are now being announced in sectors across the economy.
The impact of the downturn on the car manufacturing industry was underlined by an announcement from Jaguar Land Rover which said it would axe 450 jobs, including 300 managers.
The cuts, also including 150 agency staff, follow the "severe reduction" in demand for new cars, said the company. Jaguar Land Rover also announced that managers will not receive any bonuses this year, while pay rises have been deferred to October.
Music and entertainment retailer Zavvi, one of the many companies to file for bank-ruptcy protection in recent months, said yesterday that it plans to close another 18 stores and cut 353 jobs, bringing its total so far to 731.
International pharmaceutical firm Pfizer, known for manufacturing Viagra, is to cut up to 240 jobs from its UK workforce.
The company, which currently employs between 3,000 and 3,500 workers at its European research and development base in Kent, said it was cutting research staff numbers by between 5 and 8 per cent.
More than 50,000 job losses have been announced since Christmas and 27,000 Woolworth employees joined the dole queue last week.
The past seven days have seen job losses including 1,200 at Marks and Spencer and 700 at JCB, while Waterford Wedgwood called in administrators, putting 2,300 jobs at risk. Land of Leather also said 850 jobs were under threat.
Michael Ellam, a spokesman for Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, said: "Obviously, the government is disappointed to hear this news. All job losses are, of course, regrettable."
Last night, global technology and manufacturing business Honeywell told staff at its Newhouse plant in Motherwell, near Glasgow, that it was cutting around 80 jobs.
Elsewhere in Scotland, the Borders suffered a triple whammy of job losses after bedding firm Slumberdown said it was looking for 38 voluntary redundancies at its Burnfoot factory in Hawick.
It followed the announcement that cable company Emtelle was looking to cut 35 jobs and car dealers Thornwood Motors, also in Hawick, were going into liquidation with the loss of 16 jobs.
Ridicule and anger as baroness sees 'green shoots of recovery'A BUSINESS minister close to Gordon Brown was accused of insensitivity after she said yesterday she could detect the "green shoots" of economic recovery emerging, writes Gerri Peev.
Baroness Vadera, left, made the comment in a television interview on a day when thousands of jobs were slashed and the government had to unveil a bailout plan to underwrite loans to businesses.
The former banker said: "It's a very uncertain world right now globally … wouldn't want to be the one predicting it (the future]. I am seeing a few green shoots, but it's a little bit too early to say exactly how they'd grow."
The Conservatives seized on the remarks, saying they were inappropriate on a day when thousands of people faced being made redundant.
Alan Duncan, the shadow business secretary, said: "Shriti Vadera's comments go to show how out of touch and insensitive Gordon Brown's ministers are."
Referring to her comments about shareholders who lost their investments when Railtrack was nationalised, he added: "The person who dismissed Railtrack shareholders as grannies in blouses has just advertised her own unsuitability for addressing the difficulties that the victims of Gordon Brown's recession are facing."
Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said that Lady Vadera's comments were "a work of fiction". He continued: "Baroness Vadera is clearly living in a parallel universe if she thinks the economy is beginning to recover.
"With thousands of jobs being lost every day and many families at risk of repossession, recovery is sadly a long way off. Ministers shouldn't talk down the economy, but Vadera's comments are a work of fiction."
Her words appeared to echo the gaffe made by Norman Lamont, the former Tory chancellor, who at the height of the 1991 recession said he had detected "the green shoots of economic spring".
It was seized upon at the time by Mr Brown, then in opposition.
The full article contains 846 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
