Job cuts 'causing misery'

2,000 jobs will be lost at the Vauxhall plant

A union has warned that thousands of families are facing a bleak start to 2001 because of huge job losses in the manufacturing sector.

Research for the GMB showed that more than 5,600 job cuts have been announced this month, including 2,000 at car giant Vauxhall and 1,200 at the former Coats Viyella.

The cuts have increased the number of manufacturing redundancies this year to 96,000.

The north of England and Scotland have been worst affected this year by the fall in manufacturing employment, the GMB said.

General secretary John Edmonds said: "As a result of the manufacturing crisis, thousands of working families are facing a bleak Christmas season.

"We can only hope the New Year will bring good news from the Bank of England monetary policy committee in the form of interest rate cuts so that our industries will be able to compete again."

The Trade and Industry Secretary, Stephen Byers, has pledged that every employee at the Vauxhall plant in Luton will be helped to find a new job.