NEW figures revealing big leaps in the unemployment count provide the hardest evidence yet that the economic crash is now biting in the region.

Five parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside and North Cheshire are on a list of seats where the jobless total has soared by more than 20% in just 12 months.

Worst hit is Warrington. In the south of the town, unemployment rose by 34% in the year to August, with the Warrington North constituency suffering almost as badly (up 27%).

The other three seats on the 100-strong list are Southport (up 27.1%), Tatton (up 22.2%) and Halton (up 21.6%), according to research by the Conservatives.

Although Liverpool is not among places where unemployment has leapt by 20% in a year, two constituencies have among the highest overall jobless rates - Riverside (11.8%) and Walton (10%).

Chris Grayling, the Tory work and pensions spokesman, leapt on the statistics as evidence that the government had been “complacent” in the face of a growing crisis.

Around 1,000 Britons were “joining the dole queue” every day, adding to the total of almost 5m people who were already receiving out of work benefits, Mr Grayling said.

He added: “The sharp rise in the unemployment figures in the past few months give real cause for concern, and the government needs to take urgent steps to do what it can to protect jobs.

“We want to see better protection for otherwise sound businesses that fall into short term difficulties, and ministers should accelerate their plans for welfare reform to give those who do lose their jobs much better back to work support.”

But Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell insisted the government was taking “rapid action to ensure that where redundancies occur people are given the personalised support they need to return to work”.