THE Merseyside-born joint leader of Britain’s largest trade union has warned that the car industry could be on a "countdown to carnage" without Government backing.

Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, has vowed to fight any more job losses at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) amid fears of hundreds more job cuts at the firm.

The car maker, which is facing a slump in sales as recession bites, announced 450 job losses last week and there is mounting speculation that up to 1,300 jobs could be lost because of the slump in vehicle sales.

JLR employs 2,000 people at its Halewood plant and another 13,000 in the Midlands.

The Daily Post is campaigning for the Government to give a loan or loan guarantee to help JLR survive the slump and preserve the jobs of its skilled workforce.

Our "Support JLR" campaign is being run together with sister paper the Liverpool Echo and stablemates the Birmingham Post and Mail and the Coventry Telegraph.

JLR had some good news this week as it was told that it could borrow from the Government’s £50bn bank bail-out fund.

Business secretary Lord Mandelson has also flown to Delhi on a week-long trip that is expected to include meetings with senior officials at JLR owner Tata. It has led to speculation that more help could be available either from Tata, which has already pumped in £600m of extra cash, or from the Government.

Yesterday Tony Woodley said: "At this point in time we will not be accepting a single redundancy at JLR.While we are having discussions with both the company and the Government regarding short-term working and how these workers can be kept in their jobs and off the dole, we will resist all redundancy proposals. Clearly, Jaguar Land Rover is facing severe difficulties and urgently needs help, including the commercial loan from the Government which we have been pressing for now for months.

"But our strong view is that the difficulties are short-term and that it would be seriously damaging to the long-term future of the company if we lose skills and workers now, only to pay the price when the upturn in demand comes."

Mr Woodley added: "If we don’t see support strategy and direct financial help for the car and components industry coming forward from the Government, then make no mistake, we are on a countdown to carnage."