WORKERS at Vauxhall’s car plant in Merseyside walked out in fury today after bosses announced 241 redundancies – the third tranche of sackings in 13 months.

The company claimed that the job losses at Ellesmere Port were necessary to secure the future of the plant.

But union Unite said the redundancies would be resisted, and that a “death by a thousand cuts” at Vauxhall would not be tolerated.

Workers voted with their feet and are reported to have left the plant within minutes of hearing the news.

The redundancies follow 250 losses imposed earlier this year, and 400 in October last year, reducing the plant’s workforce to around 900.

Union Unite demanded “urgent assurances” about the plant’s future.

Unite regional coordinating officer Mick Chalmers said: “Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port workers have made huge sacrifices and worked hard to ensure the car maker recently returned to profit for the first time in two decades.

“Further job losses will come as a sickening blow for them and their families in the run-up to Christmas and will further heighten the anger over the uncertainty surrounding the future of the plant.”

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey said: “This distracted government cannot sit back and allow for the decimation of such a vital industry with its highly skilled workforce, the loss of which will be felt not just locally but nationally.”

Ellesmere Port & Neston Labour MP Justin Madders said: “Throughout a highly uncertain and difficult time, the workers have done everything that has been asked of them and have continued to operate one of the most efficient facilities in Europe.”