UNION boss Tony Woodley called for the Government to protect workers, not banks, during a massive protest march in Birmingham aimed at supporting the country's manufacturers.

Mr Woodley joined Lord Digby Jones at the demonstration, organised as part of a campaign by Unite to press ministers to hold back the tide of job losses which has engulfed British industry in recent months.

More than 7,000 people braved the rain to take part in the rally, including workers from recession-hit firms such as car companies Vauxhall and Jaguar Land Rover, which the Post and Echo has been working to support through a special campaign.

Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, told the crowds in the city’s Centenary Square: "Our message today is it’s no good bailing out the banks if you are not looking after the workers, their jobs and their homes.

"It’s not banks we should be looking after, it’s workers."

The March for Jobs follows another grim week for job losses, with BT and Legal & General announcing thousands of job cuts and official figures showing a 244,000 increase in unemployment to 2.2 million.

Speaking as he prepared to set off on his first ever protest march, former trade minister Lord Jones said saving the country’s manufacturing industry should be the Government’s "number one priority".

He said: "If we do not make a stand now then the jobs will go forever.

"We have a Government which has initiative after initiative after initiative and we are seeing manufacturing skills eroded every day. When those skills leave they do not come back.

"People, real people, are saying ’stop talking about your moats and flat screen TVs and deal with the real issue’, which is this."

Mr Woodley said the Government should be doing more to save jobs, describing it as "a no-brainer".

He said: "Our mission is to get ministers to wake up and act to halt the jobs crisis, and our message is clear: workers are not going to pay the price for the bankers crisis.

"There are now more than two million people unemployed, with 250,000 joining the dole queue in the last couple of months alone.

"We cannot risk seeing another forgotten generation of young people who cannot find work and have their lives ruined as a result.

"I welcome the fact that some business leaders like Digby Jones are taking that stand with us for jobs and industry. Ministers have taken some welcome steps but we need much more from Government.

"We need to get money - our money - moving from the banks to industry. We need a short-time working subsidy to keep plants open and workers in jobs until recovery comes.

"We need factories and plants open for when recovery comes because if they go they will be gone forever. We need a change in the whole direction of Government thinking."