‘Mass walkout’ held as almost 250 jobs to go at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant

Vauxhall is planning a ‘restructuring’ at its Ellesmere Port plant.

It has been announced a a “phased reduction” of staff will take place, with 241 job losses.

The car firm says they are aiming for all redundancies to be voluntary.

In a statement the company said: “This restructuring is critical to ensure that the Ellesmere Port plant develops its competitiveness during this difficult time within the industry.”

This afternoon there are reports of a large number of staff at the factory staging a walk out after hearing the news.

Britain’s biggest trade union Unite said it was seeking urgent assurances over the future of the northwest England site, after previous job cuts announced earlier this year and in 2017, “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.”

More soon.