THE Government was last night under renewed pressure to come to the aid of the region's beleaguered manufacturing sector following another jobs blow.

Sloman engineering, of Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, which has been in receivership since January and has debts of more than £2m, will lay off 80 staff this week.

A further 20 who are being kept on to complete any remaining orders will lose their jobs next month.

Richard Voice, of receivers KPMG, said efforts to find a buyer to run Sloman as a going concern had failed and the only alternative was closure.

Sloman, which manufactures machine-cast engine products for customers including Cummins in Darlington, is owned by West Midlands company L Gardner.

It was forced to place all five of its loss-making subsidiaries into receivership after revealing debts to the banks of more than £40m.

The Sloman site on the Aycliffe industrial estate - in Prime Minister Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency - is expected to be placed up for sale in the next few weeks.

Gerry Hunter, regional organiser with the Amicus union, said: "This is devastating news. We need to send a message to the Government that manufacturing is in crisis and that is clearly demonstrable.

"We need help and we need rescuing. If it is not companies going abroad, it is companies going into liquidation."

The North-East has been losing jobs at an alarming rate in recent months with job losses including: LG Philips Displays in Washington, 120 jobs; TKA Tallent Chassis in Newton Aycliffe, 94 jobs; Amdega conservatories in Darlington, 70 jobs, Texon UK, East Cleveland, 234 jobs and kitchen top maker Vertex of Shildon, 100 jobs.

Sedgefield has been particularly badly hit by closures, including Black and Decker last year, which moved production abroad with the loss of 950 jobs, and Sanyo which shut with 284 job losses.