Jobs will go at Glaxo

Phil Thomson, for Glaxo, said it was "clearly inevitable there will be redundancies from the group as a whole".

But he would not speculate on whether there would be any at Glaxo's 65-acre Ulverston plant, which employs 1,300 people.

"We cannot give any figures because they are not available and it's a long-term development," he said.

"We do not expect any in the short-term."

Rumours have been rife that thousands of jobs would be cut since British pharmaceutical companies Glaxo and Brentford-based SmithKline Beecham merged on December 27, creating the world's biggest drugs company GlaxoSmithKline.

Brian Harris, of the MSF union, said they had been pushing for numbers for some time but estimated the job losses at 10,000.

But, he said, he did not know if they would be in the UK as "the company won't talk to us".

"Our experience in the past has shown that, with this kind of merger, 10,000 people are made redundant, based on the size of the two companies and the fact that they have research facilities of the same nature with the same work," he said.

"There is no doubt in our minds that the reason for the merger was cost savings.

Staff is the main area of cost savings.

"When you have two research and development centres, the company will close one.

It's speculation but based on extensive experience."

Glaxo denied the company had plans to close any research facilities and claimed instead they viewed investing in and building on research as a massive priority.

Ulverston unions and management are due to meet on January 24 to discuss the impact of the merger and the reasons for 110 voluntary redundancies announced last November.