More jobs to be axed across the country

Published on Thursday 20 November 2008 22:29

MORE than 300 fish-factory workers face the axe with plans to close the Strathaird Salmon outlet in Inverness.

The Seafood Company, based in Grimsby which owns Strathaird, is consulting on the proposed transfer of its smoked salmon production to Fraserburgh. If the move goes ahead, Strathaird, which employs 354 staff, will close in August 2009.

A factory in Grantown-on-Spey is unaffected.

The aerospace firm Rolls-Royce plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs worldwide, including 140 in the UK, while defence industry manufacturer BAE Systems announced 200 job losses in England. Drugs firm AstraZeneca plans to cut 1,400 jobs and close three plants in Europe, hitting 250 workers in the UK.

BAE blamed uncertainty about future orders from the Ministry of Defence. It had been earmarked to provide armoured vehicles for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nick Harvey, the Liberal Democrats' defence spokesman, said: "It is hard to believe that, while our troops in Afghanistan are facing a crippling shortage of suitable vehicles, the jobs to make those vehicles are still being cut in the UK."

Liam Fox, the Tory defence spokesman, said: "The losers in this saga are British workers and British soldiers."