The architects of the £12 billion rescue of HBOS were accused yesterday of playing politics with jobs after a clause was inserted into the deal that appears to protect jobs in Scotland, despite no equivalent reassurance for workers south of the Border.

Managers of the new superbank are under pressure to find savings by cutting tens of thousands of jobs, but analysts said that a deal that was easier on employees in Scotland would likely result in more redundancies in England and Wales.

The clause on page one of the formal takeover document promises that “the management focus is to keep jobs in Scotland”. There is no similar reassurance about jobs in England and Wales.

With the Glenrothes by-election weeks away and support for Labour draining away in one of its traditionally strongest heartlands, the Government is desperate not to alienate Scottish voters.

Sir Victor Blank, chairman of Lloyds TSB, said yesterday that the Prime Minister had not asked for any concession on Scottish jobs, but admitted that he had intervened in other aspects of the deal.

Gordon Brown, he said, had insisted that the combined bank should continue to offer as many mortgages and loans for small companies as both banks had in the past. “We were asked [by Mr Brown] about lending and we said we would maintain our levels of lending,” he said.

The Government also took the unprecedented step of waiving normal competition rules that would have blocked the deal, which will create a superbank with a very large market share in almost all personal banking products, including mortgages, savings, credit cards and personal loans.

Sir Victor described estimates that up to 40,000 jobs could be lost from the combined 142,000-strong workforce of Lloyds TSB and HBOS as ridiculous. However, he declined to make his own estimate, saying only that he would find cost savings of well in excess of £1 billion within three years. He declined to rule out compulsory redundancies but pointed out that both banks had a good record of treating employees well.

The deal will not be completed until the turn of the year and the cost savings target is over three years, so any job losses could be some time away.

One expert, Jason Knight, of the management consultant PIPC, which advised Royal Bank of Scotland on its merger with National Westminster Bank in 2001, said that job cuts from the Lloyds TSB/HBOS takeover were likely to be substantial. “The numbers bandied about of 20,000 to 40,000 are not going to be far off,” he said.

As well as staff in 3,000 branches across the country, the two banks employ thousands in centres in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Halifax, Leeds, Newport, Bristol, Chester, London and Speke.

Asked whether the Scotland concession would make English and Welsh job losses more likely, Alex Potter, a banking analyst with Collins Stewart, said: “Absolutely. The job cuts have got to be found somewhere.”

One source close to the deal said that the clause was meaningless and would not make jobs in England and Wales any less secure. It was not clear why it was inserted so prominently or by whom. However, advisers to the deal are understood to have spent a disproportionate amount of time over the Scotland aspects.

In further concessions to Scotland, the two banks said that HBOS’s grand headquarters on the Mound, in Edinburgh, would serve as a Scottish headquarters for the combined bank. Shareholders’ meetings would also be held in Scotland and Bank of Scotland banknotes would still be printed, continuing a right that the bank has held since the 17th century.

Derek Simpson, the joint general secretary of the Unite trade union, which has 20,000 members in the two banks, called on Lloyds TSB to end the speculation about jobs. “It must be unbearable for the staff who have to turn up to work each day, not knowing what this takeover means for them. It’s now time for Eric Daniels and Andy Hornby [chief executives of Lloyds TSB and HBOS] to come clean, sit down with the unions and begin a meaningful and transparent dialogue.”

Lloyds TSB said that it would achieve cost savings by eliminating duplicated branches, combining the life and pensions businesses and head office functions such as finance, risk and personnel, and consolidating data centres and networks.

As part of the merger, Mr Hornby will stay on at the bank and receive almost £2 million worth of shares. Andy Love, a member of the Treasury Select Committee, said: “This will be a bitter pill for any employee at HBOS or Lloyds TSB who loses their job.”

Lord Stevenson of Coddenham, the HBOS chairman, admitted that the board had made mistakes but said that the deal was the right decision. “Against the backdrop of the very high levels of volatility our industry is experiencing, the combined group will be one of the strongest players in the UK financial services sector.”

No name for the combined bank has been decided. The deal requires approval from the shareholders of both banks.

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