VAUXHALL’S Ellesmere Port plant is hoping to escape fresh cuts which will see up to 47,000 General Motors workers axed worldwide.

However across Europe GM must make cost savings of £850m achieved by “several possible closures or spin-offs of manufacturing facilities in high cost locations”.

GM announced it has sought buyers for Saab and is discussing the sale of its Hummer division and plans to sell or spin-off its Saturn brand.

The US parent company presented a restructuring plan to the US treasury department as it seeks up to £21bn in state aid to save the ailing business from bankruptcy.

It will close five factories in the United States.

Vauxhall is planning to build its new generation Astra model in Ellesmere Port – where it employs 2,200 workers – from October when production is set to return to pre-recession levels.

The company employs a further 3,000 staff in the UK – around half of those at a van factory in Luton.

A Vauxhall spokesman said: “These 47,000 job losses are the next step of the plan and nothing is yet confirmed on Europe.

“Ellesmere Port is a great plant, an efficient plant, creating a car that the company needs for Europe.”

UK sites have been hit by cuts in production in the face of falling sales with hours reduced from 37 to 30 a week in Ellesmere Port as well as cuts in Luton.

Staff are at home this week returning to work on Tuesday to build the current Astra and continue preparations for the new model.

Unite’s Ellesmere Port union convener John Fetherston said while the plant won the bidding to build the new model only 18 months ago the severe difficulties facing GM meant nothing was being taken for granted.

He said: “The [restructuring plan] document is 117 pages long and there’s nothing that relates directly to Ellesmere Port. But we do have some concerns. Our hope is the launch in October allows us to do what we know we can do – and what we have been doing successfully.

“We need 2,200 people to launch the new model and that’s what we’ve got so we can only stay focused on that.”

He also expects the UK government to follow their German counterparts and get involved where necessary.

He added: “The trade unions across Europe have the stance we don’t want plant closures. The German government is talking to its trade unions and we would expect the UK government to do the same.”