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Birmingham MPs call on Trinity Mirror to cancel redundancy plans in the Midlands

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By Tony Connelly | Sports Marketing Reporter

June 16, 2015 | 3 min read

Ten Birmingham MPs have written to Trinity Mirror chief executive, Simon Fox, calling on the publisher to forgo the planned redundancies across the Midlands.

Trinity Mirror plans to cut 25 jobs across its Midlands operation in a move that will make a quarter of the staff at the Birmingham Post and Mail redundant.

The publisher has stated that it will cut 19 roles in Birmingham and a further six Coventry by means of voluntary redundancies.

In a letter to staff, Trinity Mirror claimed that the redundancies were due to the shift towards digital content. The letter explained that changes “are based on an evaluation of the rate of growth of our digital audiences, demand for digital content and the level of content we need for our printed editions”.

The ten Birmingham MPs responded to the news by calling for a meeting with the newspaper publisher and requesting that “no irrevocable steps are taken in the meantime".

In their letter, the MPs said that the dwindling staff numbers would prevent the newspapers from reporting on important news that is in the public interest. The MPs said: “The admission from Trinity Mirror that the Birmingham Post and Mail cannot 'dutifully report everything which happens on our patch' is also very alarming. What does this mean for coverage of the City Council, political affairs, the education system, criminal activity, the health service and courts? Are you going to be able to hold figures in authority to account?”

The MPs' letter concluded by asking: “Is it the case that the cost of the recent phone hacking court action has prompted the large-scale redundancies which we are now seeing? That the people of Birmingham, and Trinity Mirror's customers and clients here are paying the price for decisions made in a national newsroom a decade ago?”

The Drum contacted Trinity Mirror for a comment and received a response stating that the restructure of Trinity Mirror newsrooms is necessary for the organisation to become more digitally focused.

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