SCOTLAND was dealt a double jobs blow last night as Clinton Cards and the BBC confirmed plans for hundreds of redundancies.
Clinton and its sister store chain Birthdays said 2800 jobs would be lost across the UK with the closure of 350 stores – including several in Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Midlothian.
Meanwhile, the trust that oversees the BBC rubber-stamped proposals for UK-wide budget cuts which could see up to 120 jobs axed in Scotland.
The redundancies came as unions raised concerns over new figures that show more people are being forced into part-time work when they want full-time jobs.
They said hundreds of thousands of workers were being denied the opportunity to work full-time because of the Government's failure to stimulate growth.
Clinton, which collapsed into administration last week as its biggest supplier, American Greetings, called in a £35 million debt, will close all of its Birthdays stores and 200 Clinton Cards stores, with some shutting as early as next week.
Administrator Zolfo Cooper said it had been working to assess and stabilise the company's financial position with a view to retaining around 430 stores and selling the business, which was being "burdened with an untenable retail estate".
Peter Saville, joint administrator, said: "Given the sheer size of the Clinton Cards retail estate and the overall performance, we were left with no alternative to this difficult decision. I am hopeful the action we have taken will allow us to preserve value in the core underlying business, thereby allowing us and potential buyers to focus on a profitable and viable retail estate going forward."
It is understood that WH Smith is interested in buying up to 350 stores.
Meanwhile, the BBC Trust approved the broadcaster's Delivering Quality First scheme which could result in the loss of 120 jobs at BBC Scotland by 2017 in a push to cut its budget by 16%, equivalent to some £16.1m.
Scottish Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said she had "grave reservations" about the impact of the proposed budget cuts.
She said: "Cuts on this scale – at such a historic time for our nation –are bitterly disappointing. The BBC is Scotland's national broadcaster and should be relied on to report fairly on Scottish, UK and international events, particularly at this important time in Scotland's journey."
Patricia Ferguson, Labour's Shadow Culture Secretary, said the cuts were "yet another blow for Scotland's media".
The BBC has committed to huge savings from its budget after the annual licence fee was frozen at £145.50 for six years.
Under the savings drive, programmes including Blue Peter and Newsround will move from BBC1 and BBC2 to digital channels such as CBBC and CBeebies. The trust said the impact on children would be "very low", but it admitted the move could cause "short-term confusion" and would need "sufficient cross-promotion and marketing".
A BBC spokesman said: "We indicated when we announced these plans in October last year the majority of savings will be sourced from improved productivity and efficiency measures that have least impact on content and services.
"We do have to take some tough decisions on our spend on services and content for audiences in Scotland, but we will safeguard the output which is most valued by our audiences and which best fulfils our role as Scotland's national public service broadcaster."
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