MARCONI shareholders and workers gathered to voice anger at the group's job cuts and slumping share price at its annual meeting, yesterday.

Workers from Marconi's factory in Poole, Dorset, who are facing redundancy, called for the board to take responsibility for the firm's recent troubles.

Roger Lyons, general secretary of the Manufacturing Science and Finance (MSF ) union, said: "The board should be the one that is thrown out, not the workforce."

Shareholders also voiced their anger as they arrived at the meeting, in London.

Marconi saw more than half of its value wiped out earlier this month after warning that profits and revenues had been hit by the downturn in the telecom sector.

The company is cutting up to 1,500 jobs in the UK, including 570 at its research site in Poole, where MSF members staged an unofficial walkout yesterday.