More job losses announced

Top UK firms have joined the growing list of companies cutting jobs around the country.

Hundreds of jobs are being axed in the defence, aerospace and drug industries, some as part of wider global job losses running into thousands.

Aerospace giant Rolls-Royce, defence firm BAE Systems and Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca are the latest firms to unveil job cuts, with union leaders fearing fresh waves of redundancies.

Rolls-Royce said it is cutting up to 2,000 jobs worldwide, including 140 in the UK, after reviewing the impact of the current economic "uncertainties". Consultations started with unions about the proposed losses at the assembly and test facility in Derby, part of the group's civil aerospace business.

Rolls-Royce, which employs 39,000 workers globally, 60 per cent of whom are based in the UK, said the announcement was the first stage in a more general programme aimed at matching the group's capacity more closely with the expected load in its facilities.

Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca plans to shed 1,400 jobs and close three plants in Europe as part of a programme to improve efficiency, hitting 250 jobs at its Macclesfield site.

And BAE Systems announced the loss of up to 200 jobs in its land systems business in the UK, hitting factories in Newcastle, Leeds, Leicester, Barrow and Telford. The firm blamed the cuts on a decline in workload on the UK Ministry of Defence's Armoured Fighting Vehicle programmes.

The company said plans to restructure its manufacturing, concentrating operations in Belgium, are necessary due to declining market conditions in Europe.

Meanwhile in Kent, the historic Dartford Paper Mill could shut with the loss of 127 jobs. Bosses at ArjoWiggins have begun a three-month consultation with workers to discuss the closure.

And newspaper publisher Daily Mail & General Trust has said some 400 people have already left or are about to leave its Northcliffe regional newspaper division, over half way towards its job cuts target.

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