Drugs giant cuts jobs

Drugs multinational GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) plans to cut more than 2,000 jobs, in a reorganisation following last year's merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham.

More than 1,000 jobs will go in the UK with the biggest cuts - 500 jobs - resulting from the closure of the company's asthma inhaler plant in Speke in Liverpool. Another 400 jobs will be cut over the next three years at Barnard Castle in County Durham, where some operations will be transferred to other sites. In the south west, the former Block consumer healthcare manufacturing site at Plymouth in Devon will close over the next two years with the eventual loss of 170 jobs.

GSK is looking for a buyer for its plant at Montrose in Scotland. Prospective purchasers would get a contract to supply GSK with some products but this would only provide employment for around 300 of the 720 people who currently work there.