TROUBLED telecoms group Marconi is seeking to axe a further 1,000 jobs in the UK.

Marconi is aiming to lose 4,000 jobs from its global workforce to claw back costs of £200m.

Of the cuts, 25 per cent will be in the UK with 25 per cent in the US.

The group said it did not know yet which of its sites would be affected by the latest round of cuts, but union officials said they feared many of the jobs would be lost at factories in Liverpool and at Ansty, near Coventry.

Consultation with the unions and employees has begun.

Marconi has cut thousands of jobs worldwide since warning that the telecoms slowdown was taking its toll last year. Once the latest round of cuts are completed, Marconi will employ between 7,000 and 8,000 people in its core businesses in the UK. In April last year, the group employed about 12,000.

Overall, the new job losses will give Marconi a global workforce of 25,000.

The latest round of cost-cutting, which is expected to incur a restructuring charge of about £100m, came as Marconi updated the City on third quarter trading.

Group sales were £1.04bn compared to £1.69bn in the same period last year.

But the group said its debt reduction programme was on track. Debts - which last year peaked at about £4.3bn - were now at £3.5bn and would come down to £2.9bn once non-core disposals were completed.

Chief executive Mike Parton said: "It is with regret that we have announced the need for further cost and job reductions, but we are all the more determined not to be dependent on improvement in the market to return the group to profitability."