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Gordon Brown in Halifax for talks with worried HBOS staff
PREMIER Gordon Brown was at the HBOS headquarters in Halifax today to bolster staff worried about the Lloyds TSB takeover.
Mr Brown had been invited by MPs Linda Riordan and Chris McCafferty amid growing concern that up to 6,500 jobs could be affected locally.
Mr Brown has promised: "Where we can save jobs, we will."
He said the Government was determined to build a strong banking sector for the future. Mrs Riordan said Lloyds TSB would be "absolutely crazy" not to take on the workforce and that they were under tremendous pressure not knowing what the future held.
Mrs McCafferty said before the visit: "I want the Prime Minister to see for himself the highly-trained and committed workforce and the infrastructure at the Halifax hub so he can use that information when he speaks to Victor Blank, the chairman of Lloyds TSB."
The PM met executives and union representatives during a tour of the Trinity Road building.
Ged Nichols, general secretary of the Accord union, which represents more than half the HBOS staff, said he was looking forward to speaking to him. Lloyds TSB shareholders voted earlier this month to approve the takeover, which Mr Nichols said was good news for jobs in Halifax. HBOS shareholders vote on December 12.
Chairman Dennis Stevenson has warned that if the deal falls through the Halifax risks nationalisation.
Mr Brown's visit to Halifax coincides with an historic meeting of the Cabinet in Leeds today – only the second time it has met outside London since 1921, when Lloyd George's senior ministers gathered in Inverness.
Ministers were due to carry out a series of visits to major companies to learn how the region's businesses are coping with the deepening recession.
The Cabinet includes three West Yorkshire MPs – Environment Secretary Hilary Benn (Leeds Central), Schools Secretary Ed Balls (Normanton) and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper (Pontefract and Castleford). Tory leader David Cameron visited Trinity Road last month.
He said the takeover was very confusing and worrying but he backed Gordon Brown's rescue package.
At a meeting in Halifax last week, the Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber, Rosie Winterton, told HBOS employees she was pressing the case at all levels for maintaining a strong presence in this area.
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Weather for Halifax
Friday 10 February 2012
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