LORD Mandelson last night claimed to have secured assurances that Vauxhall production will continue indefinitely in the UK.

The business secretary came under heavy fire yesterday from union leaders demanding Government action to guarantee Vauxhall car jobs, in Ellesmere Port.

Last night, he reacted by claiming he had won face-to-face assurances from one of the groups bidding to buy GM Europe and further promises from the other competitors that manufacturing would continue in the UK.

But he said some jobs would be lost.

He said: “They have each assured me that Vauxhall provides a vital source of production and vital market share for GM Europe and see Vauxhall production in the UK continuing indefinitely."

Some 2,200 staff work at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant, producing the Astra with the balance of the marque’s total 5,000 UK workforce in Luton.

But there are fears that British involvement in key talks on the future ownership of Vauxhall and the continental Europe brand of Opel may have been too little, too late – an announcement is expected in Germany today on the preferred bidder for General Motors Europe.