More jobs axed amid grim warnings

The biggest cull came from Shop Direct, one of Britain's biggest home shopping companies, which announced more than 1,000 redundancies from its call centres.

The firm, formerly known as Littlewoods Home Shopping, said it will close a call centre in Crosby, Merseyside, with the loss of around 1,000 jobs because the growth of online shopping had led to a reduction in telephone orders.

Engineering giant GKN said it had axed 242 jobs in the UK in recent months and planned further cuts this year because of the downturn in the car industry, while Thames Water said it would cut up to 300 jobs in response to the economic downturn.

Meanwhile, union leaders pledged to fight plans to axe 330 jobs at London Metropolitan University, including cleaners and catering workers, because of funding cuts.

But broadcaster BSkyB and supermarket giant Asda gave a glimmer of good news, announcing plans to create thousands of new jobs.

BSkyB said it planned to create 1,000 jobs to support further growth as it announced a 31% rise in half-year operating profits, while Asda said it was creating 7,000 new jobs this year, more than half of them by opening 14 new stores and expanding 15 existing sites.

Meanwhile, the Government was given a stark warning that tens of thousands of car workers' jobs could be lost unless it gave more help to the motor industry.

Ministers were told by union leaders that although the £2.3 billion loan guarantee package was a welcome start, more needed to be done.

Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, told Business Secretary Lord Mandelson during a summit on the motor industry that immediate financial support was needed to keep workers in jobs, adding that tens of thousands of jobs were now at risk because of the "collapse" in car sales.