US car giant Ford dealt a blow to its Halewood plant in northwest England yesterday, announcing 1,300 job cuts and apparently switching production of a new model to plants in Spain and Germany.

Just months after giving the factory its global quality award for 1996, Ford told workers and their union leaders the new version of its mid range Escort model would not be built at Halewood near Liverpool, an unemployment blackspot.

The proposed job cuts will reduce Halewood's workforce to just over 3,000, compared with a peak of 14,000 in the 1960s.

The workers believe the new model, due in 1999, will be built instead at Ford's plants in Valencia, Spain, and Saarlouis, Germany.