ENGINEERING bosses have called on the Chancellor for help to prevent further job losses in the industry which continues to be hit by the slowdown in the US economy.

The Engineering Employers' Federation said that more than a quarter of its members in the North West had cut jobs over the past three months.

For areas like East Lancashire, which has one of the UK's highest concentrations of manufacturing activity, problems are particularly acute.

The downbeat statement from the EEF coincides with the release of data on business failures which show a 15 per cent increase in the number of North West companies going under in the past three months.

Between April and the end of June, a total of 1,271 firms went out of business in the region compared with 1,051 in the first quarter of the year.

Engineering industry bosses said a survey of members showed business being hit on two fronts: the knock-on effects of the downturn in the US economy and by the impact of the slow-down in communications technology.

"The shake-out of the region's manufacturing sector is continuing and in a number of cases, production capacity is being moved abroad," said Andrew Semple of the EEF.

"We are seeing some resilience within manufacturing to the tough competitive environment. Order books have shown a slight improvement over the first quarter and export orders are still positive.

"Perhaps the most concerning element of the survey is the impact of deteriorating confidence in the communications technology sector and allied business and its knock on in the supply chain.

"There have been some significant adverse impacts, including some large redundancies, in as sector that had been doing comparatively well.

"Raising competitiveness is the watchword and EEF members will be looking to the Chancellor for a fiscal helping hand in research, development and investment when he comes to frame his pre-budget statement in the Autumn."