BREXIT FOR 3K JOBS AT LLOYDS

200 branches close

BANKING giant Lloyds blamed Brexit as it slashed 3,000 jobs.

The cutbacks will also mean the closure of a further 200 branches.

But yesterday’s shock announcement came as the bank revealed its profits for the first half of the year had doubled to £2.5billion.

Lloyds voiced concerns that the Bank of England will cut interest rates from 0.5% to 0.25% next week as the fallout from the vote to leave the EU intensifies.

Bank bosses said the “expected ® lower-for-longer interest rate environment” has forced it to target £1.4bn in savings by the end of next year.

It means the total number of jobs cut by the bank since 2014 will stand at 12,000 by the end of next year.

The latest 200 branch closures come on top of another 200 already earmarked at the bank, which is part-owned by the Government.

Chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said that following the referendum the outlook for the UK economy is “uncertain” and a “deceleration of growth seems likely”.

But unions reacted with anger to yesterday’s news.

Rob MacGregor of Unite, warned against “cutting too far too fast” and said the union would do everything in its power to oppose the cuts.

BREXIT offers the UK the chance to “intensify” relationships with Europe, Theresa May said yesterday. The PM, on a tour of Slovakia and Poland, said: “We will continue to work with our partners across Europe, indeed Brexit is an opportunity to intensify those relationships. And just as we want Britain to succeed outside the EU, we want the EU to be strong and successful after we depart.”