The Guardian has launched a redundancy programme as the newspaper grapples with a sharp slowdown in advertising. Katharine Viner, the left-leaning newspaper’s editor-in-chief, sent an email to staff on Thursday outlining plans for a “small number of voluntary redundancies” as it seeks to cut costs. The note, seen by The Telegraph, said an “advertising recession and challenging market conditions are impacting negatively on all media companies, including the Guardian”. The email added that The Guardian was now 60pc funded by its readers through sales and donations, cutting its reliance on advertising and newsstand sales. However, it said the business still had to make “difficult decisions” over budgets after warning the ad slump would drive the business to a £39m loss in 2023. “We have sought to protect editorial budgets where possible, but, after careful consideration we have decided to open a limited voluntary redundancy scheme within the UK editorial department,” the note said. Ms Viner added: “Overall we are in a much stronger position than we were during the last downturn, with a well-established and successful digital reader revenue income stream. “This is really positive but there is still work to do to make our business digital-first, truly global, confidently...