John Lewis chairman Charlie Mayfield has vowed not to cut any jobs over the coming year, despite admitting these were the toughest trading conditions he could remember.

Mayfield said there would be no “knee-jerk” reaction to the economic downturn, although there would be a need to tighten costs.

Mayfield told Personnel Today: “There will be no job cuts. We are a business; we believe in pursuing a long-term approach to growing the business – we are not into making knee-jerk cuts in staff costs just to protect short-term profit.”

Last week, Marks & Spencer sparked fears when it revealed it plans to slash redundancy benefits for its 60,000 staff by up to 25 per cent, while Comet made the post of its deputy store managers redundant, potentially leaving more than 100 employees without jobs.