Two Morrisons stores in region to close

Hull North MP Diana Johnson said: “Given the lack of good full-time jobs in the Hull area, especially in relation to the number of job-seekers chasing them, it’s worrying that Morrisons at Northpoint is to close.

“The process on what will happen to jobs at the store will now start, but this is clearly bad news for Northpoint and the Hull area.

“It shows that in our area the economic recovery remains fragile and is held back by the spending power taken out of our local economy since 2010.

“We already have a problem with the loss of retail jobs and empty shops in Hull and we’ve lost major players such as Comet in recent years.”

A Morrisons spokesperson said: “We have looked extremely carefully at whether the stores can be turned around but unfortunately we cannot see a way of making them viable. We are therefore proposing their closure.

“We are consulting with colleagues and unions to reduce the risk of redundancies and we are looking at ways of redeploying colleagues around our business.”

Morrisons announced the departure of its chief executive Dalton Philips today alongside the news that it will close 10 loss-making stores this year with the loss of 409 jobs.

Incoming chairman Andy Higginson said that the bulk of the job cuts will be in the North.

The supermarket sector was also hit by the news that Sainsbury’s is to axe 500 jobs as part of the latest round of cost-cutting in the supermarket industry.