Union leaders today kept up the pressure on the new owners of car giant Vauxhall to protect jobs in the UK amid continuing fears of cuts.

Unite has held a series of meetings with Canadian car parts firm Magna and UK government officials, which are set to continue over the next week.

Joint leader Tony Woodley said today there were still no guarantees for the long term future of Vauxhall's car plant in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire and its van factory in Luton.

"The situation is very serious," he said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, adding there were continued fears that 1,000 jobs could be cut in the UK.

Mr Woodley said 25,000 jobs were dependant on the Vauxhall plants as 400 component firms relied on the carmaker for business.

"It is not economic to carry any surplus capacity in the industry, but we believe in sharing the pain."

Mr Woodley has already complained of a "political stitch up" after the German government offered a huge amount of money to Magna, which he claimed was aimed at securing jobs in Germany.

Without guarantees of future investment, there would be "major problems" at the UK factories after 2013, he warned.