ALAN Milburn may be called as a High Court witness in the dispute over the sacking of North-East construction workers from the Wembley stadium project.

The Australian contractor, Multiplex, is ready to sub-poena the Darlington MP to question him about the support he gave to Cleveland Bridge UK, which is based in the town.

Mr Milburn, along with other local MPs, was asked to intervene last summer when 200 workers were dismissed in a dispute over working hours and breaks.

Multiplex is demanding the disclosure of all correspondence between Mr Milburn and Cleveland Bridge to discover what, if anything, he knew about "Project Trafalgar".

It claims the project was a secret strategy for Cleveland Bridge to break its contracts with Multiplex - an allegation the subcontractor denies.

Cleveland Bridge is claiming £13m from Multiplex in litigation due to begin in April.

A Multiplex spokesman told The Northern Echo: "It remains an option for us to subpoena Mr Milburn.

"He is the Darlington MP, so we believe his dealings with Cleveland Bridge, a Darlington company, are relevant to this case and to Project Trafalgar."

Cleveland Bridge started work on the stadium in 2002, but announced in June 2004 that it was to stop construction, saying it was owed millions by Multiplex.

Dutch company Hollandia took over the contract and the 200 Cleveland Bridge workers, but sacked them over weekend breaks to visit their families in the North-East.

Mr Milburn declined to comment on the prospect of a High Court subpoena. No one from Cleveland Bridge was available last night.

* Multiplex said yesterday there was only a 70 per cent chance the stadium will be ready for the FA Cup Final in May. The company said it would be able to advise whether it would be ready in the next two or three weeks.