Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has backed trade union staff who are facing redundancy from London Metropolitan University.

The Labour MP (right) said it was “an outrage that once again staff and students are under attack”.

The equivalent of 12 full-time posts are under threat in the academic faculties and two senior University College Union (UCU) staff could lose their jobs. Including voluntary redundancies, some 93 positions are being taken out of the university.

It comes as London Met unveiled its plan for a new £125million campus in Holloway after selling off the landmark Cass Art School in Whitechapel for £50m. The move faced widespread criticism from within the university and in the art world.

The current Holloway campus will be opened up with a central plaza, surrounded by a café, gallery and performance spaces. In the proposals, members of the public will have right of way through the new campus, linking it with surrounding streets, as well as access to university facilities.

But London Met UCU secretary David Hardman, who faces redundancy along with chairman Mark Campbell, told the Tribune the current “shrinkage strategy” would not solve university’s financial difficulties and would make it a less attractive prospect for future applicants.

He added: “The continued shrinkage of London Met in the face of student and staff opposition is removing opportunities from the traditionally disadvantaged sector of the population that it claims to be champion­ing. The one-campus masterplan is full of management buzzwords and phrases, such as ‘agile working’ and ‘digital first’ but no one knows what they mean.”

In a statement of support for the campaign to reverse the job cuts, Mr McDonnell said: “London Metropolitan University is an outstanding widening participation university. It is an outrage that once again staff and students at the college are under attack. It is equally appalling that well-respected lecturers and union representatives are now being targeted for compulsory redundancy for carrying out their legitimate trade union duties.”

A London Met spokesman said: “The suggestion from Mr Campbell and Dr Hardman that they are at risk of redundancy because of their UCU position is baseless, and we reject it in the strongest possible terms.”

A petition to reverse the cuts has attracted almost 2,000 signatures.

• Keywords
  REDUNDANCY, TRADE UNIONS, UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS
• Geographical keyword
  HOLLOWAY
• Persons keyword
  London Metropolitan University, John McDonnell