NO HAMPSHIRE stores are among the 27 set to be closed by Marks & Spencer and locals staff will be unaffected by the chain’s plans to axe up to 1,230 jobs.

News of the cuts came as M&S unveiled its worst sales figures for almost a decade, down 7.1 per cent in the run-up to Christmas, despite heavy discounting.

The company – which employs around 70,000 staff in the UK – plans to close 27 stores with the loss of up to 780 jobs. Up to 450 more will go from its head office.

Of the stores to close, 25 are under-performing Simply Food outlets, and two are small main chain stores selling both food and clothes.

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The cost-saving drive, which also involves changes to M&S’s final salary pension scheme, aims to cut costs by up to £200m.

Executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose said: “We are aware that the proposed changes set out above will be difficult for those members of staff impacted, but, given that we expect challenging economic conditions to continue for at least the next 12 months, we believe we are taking the right action to maintain the strength of our business.”

Union leaders expressed shock at the scale of the job cuts and called for urgent talks with M&S to discuss the redundancies.

John Gorle, national officer of Usdaw, said: “We are shocked at the severity of the cuts and we were not anticipating store closures.

Our members will now be extremely worried.”

The group sold 18 million mince pies and 400,000 turkeys, executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose claimed, and on its busiest day – December 23 – M&S's food business took a record £50m. Analysts expect the company to report profits of around £620m this year – more than a third lower than last year's £1 billion.