Lloyds Banking Group has announced it is to cut a further 2,100 jobs over the next three years. This will be mitigated by the creation of 350 new roles, Lloyds said.

The Unite union was “astonished” by the scale of the cuts, which it said brought total job losses at the group since January to 7,000.

The banking giant, which is 43%-owned by UK taxpayers, was formed by the merger of Halifax Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB late last year.