Lloyds Banking Group is to axe thousands of jobs next year in a fresh wave of cuts under plans to reduce costs. Up to 5,000 positions are expected to be cut in the UK in 2010, on top of thousands already slashed this year. It leaves Lloyds with around 130,000 employees. Rob MacGregor, national officer of the Unite union, said: "Today marks the start of another dark week for finance workers. It beggars belief that, just days after 5,400 jobs were cut in RBS and HSBC, we see further devastation for workers in this part-nationalised financial institution." Unite said the fresh job cuts would hit workers in Lloyds' insurance, group operations and retail divisions. The bank said the cuts would be "significantly mitigated" by redeployment and the release of contractors, temporary staff and offshore employees. The UK "superbank" was formed when Lloyds' took over HBOS in September last year. The Government has a 43 per cent stake in the bank.