THE Government is to cut 200 more Servicemen's jobs from the Gibraltar

garrison than planned previously, it was announced yestereday.

Armed Forces Minister Jeremy Hanley also announced that up to 600 more

civilian staff than planned will lose their jobs.

The announcement follows a review of the garrison's size and

functions, and comes as MPs brace themselves for further defence cuts

next week.

Trades unions will be consulted, and the Government is examining ways

to help the Gibraltar economy cope with the effects of the scale-down,

Mr Hanley said.

Britain currently has about 900 personnel from all three Services

stationed in Gibraltar.

Mr Hanley said: ''Under a rationalisation scheme already in progress,

Service and civilian manpower levels in Gibraltar were due to reduce to

700 and 950 respectively by 1997.

''The effect of the review will be to bring these figures to some 500

Servicemen and between 350 and 700 civilians.''

Mr Hanley said the review was conducted in the light of political and

strategic changes. Until recently, about 1700 Service personnel were

based on the Rock, but in 1990 Britain withdrew the resident battalion.

* There has been a British military presence in Gibraltar since 1704,

the year the Rock was captured from Spain. The last serious Spanish

pressure on Gibraltar came in the 1960s.