THE Unite union vowed today to fight to save as many jobs as possible after energy giant Npower’s “horrific” announcement of thousands of redundancies cast a shadow over Christmas for the firm’s staff.

Npower, which supplies gas and electricity to 2.5 million households, said it would axe up to 4,500 IT and customer-service workers as part of a drive to protect profits.

The company has not yet confirmed the exact number of job losses, but they could have a heavy impact on its sites in Hull, Leeds, Rainton, Swindon and Worcester.