MPs criticise newspaper job cuts

The MPs want to halt the "haemorrhaging of local jobs"

Merseyside MPs are condemning plans to cut jobs at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

More than 40 journalists are to go and the Daily Post's Saturday edition will be axed as part of a major restructuring by owner Trinity Mirror.

Six MPs have now signed a House of Commons motion calling on the company to halt what they call "this haemorrhaging of local jobs".

But Echo editor Alastair Machray said the MPs' figures "lacked any context".

The motion is signed by Knowsley MPs George Howarth and Eddie O'Hara, Birkenhead MP Frank Field, Crosby MP Claire Curtis Thomas and Ben Chapman from Wirral South.

This comical inaccuracy makes me wonder whether the MPs concerned have even bothered to check their facts Alastair Machray, Echo editor

The motion states that the Liverpool Echo is due to make a �25m profit this year - a figure the newspaper's editor disputes.

Mr Machray said: "The figures attributed to the Echo in the Early Day Motion lack any context and are wildly overstated anyway.

"This comical inaccuracy makes me wonder whether the MPs concerned have even bothered to check their facts. Certainly someone hasn't."

Trinity Mirror recently moved its print production to Oldham, Greater Manchester.

As a result, 80 of its 100 printworkers on Merseyside are set to lose their jobs in the next 12 months.

The journalism job losses are expected to be implemented in the first part of 2009.

The company has blamed a slump in advertising for the job cuts and is currently in consultation with all affected staff and with the National Union of Journalists.

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