FOURTEEN Halifax-branded counters in Lancashire firms will close after Lloyds Banking Group yesterday announced 650 job cuts.

The bulk of the cuts will come in back office-based staff at offices in Nottingham and Chester.

Unions said 1,850 jobs would be affected.

Lloyds said 14 Halifax ‘agencies’ - counters run from solicitors or insurance companies - in Lancashire would be axed.

But a spokeswoman could not say which agencies in Lancashire would be shut or how many jobs would be lost as the people are not directly employed by Lloyds.

Yesterday’s announcement means Lloyds has axed 17,000 jobs since the start of last year.

In 2008 it took over rival HBOS in a deal approved by the Government.