Express Newspapers today announced a reduction in the number of staff it will cut, down to 75 from its original announcement of 90, the Guardian.co.uk reported today. The newsroom cull will be reduced from 70 journalists to between 52 and 57.

A redundancy plan proposed by the company suggested 18 clerical, 52 editorial and five managerial job losses, initially pursuing voluntary redundancies. The union said it has received 22 volunteers for redundancies, 16 in London, five from Glasgow and one from Broughton.

"While the company initially proposed a larger number of redundancies, it considers now, after initial consultation, that a number of around 75 proposed redundancies with separate cost savings in areas other than staffing are what may be required," the group's editorial director, Paul Ashford, wrote in a letter to the National Association of Journalists. "Since we do not anticipate seeing any improvement in circulation or advertising during the current economic recession and the assessment is that these areas will continue to decline in the coming months the company therefore must seek substantial cost savings in order to manage their very difficult and continuing financial challenges."