Vauxhall to cut hundreds of jobs at Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire

Carmaker says job losses are critical to ensuring the future of the factory

Carmaker Vauxhall is to cut more than 200 jobs at its Ellesmere Port plant.

The company said it is planning a “phased reduction” of 241 jobs, and is aiming for all redundancies to be voluntary.

Production line workers staged a walkout when the cuts were announced, according to reports.

Vauxhall said the job losses were part of a restructuring that is “critical to ensure that the Ellesmere Port plant develops its competitiveness during this difficult time within the industry”.

“The restructuring is necessary to make it a competitive plant when compared to the benchmark,” the group said.

The news follows a report last week that the firm’s French owner, PSA, is considering shutting down one of its two UK plants after Brexit.

Sources said the manufacturer was reviewing how it will respond to the post-Brexit market, and said Vauxhall was also considering stockpiling parts to avoid shortages and bringing forward a summer shutdown.

The UK motor industry has struggled in recent months, with many companies issuing strong warnings about Brexit.

Jaguar Land Rover was forced to stop production at its Solihull plant for two weeks in October, and has put workers at its Castle Bromwich plant on a three-day week until Christmas.

Meanwhile, Toyota has said a no-deal Brexit would lead to a temporary stoppage in production and hurt UK investment, and BMW is planning to bring a maintenance stoppage at its Oxford plant forward to coincide with the beginning of Brexit.

Unite regional coordinating officer Mick Chalmers said: “Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port workers have made huge sacrifices and worked hard to ensure the carmaker recently returned to profit for the first time in two decades.

“Further job losses will come as a sickening blow for them and their families in the run up to Christmas and will further heighten the anger over the uncertainty surrounding the future of the plant.”

Mr Chalmers said the union would be “pressing for guarantees of no compulsory redundancies” and “urgent assurances”.

The union has also called on PSA to “remove the uncertainty surrounding the plant by committing new models to Ellesmere Port beyond 2021”.

“PSA should be clear. Unite will not tolerate the death by a thousand cuts of Ellesmere Port and will leave no stone unturned in securing the future of the plant and its skilled workforce,” added Mr Chalmers.