Troubled car manufacturer Peugeot is to shed up to 8,000 jobs in France and Spain alongside the 2,300 it is cutting by closing its Coventry factory in the UK.
The French firm threw the spotlight on the UK’s labour laws when it announced in April that it was closing the Ryton plant to focus production in mainland Europe.
Unions insisted it was too easy to make redundancies in the UK – but now Peugeot has brought in a recruitment freeze across France and Spain.
The firm is also trying to reduce annual capital expenditure by more than £330m and is scrapping plans for a second production unit in Slovakia as it battles a declining market share.
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Manufacturing and engineering trade body EEF insisted earlier this year that the Ryton closure had nothing to do with the UK’s labour laws.
“There were a number of reasons behind the decision. It is an old facility which would have required a lot of investment; it is outside the manufacturer’s native country, and it is the furthest plant from the growing markets in Eastern Europe,” said an EEF spokesman.
