General Motors Europe looked set to cut nearly 1,000 jobs at its Vauxhall factory in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, after fraught talks with unions.

"It was a long and difficult discussion. We are going to announce the outcome today after we have informed our workforce," a GM Europe spokesman said yesterday of the talks that stretched into Monday night.

He declined to say what had been decided.

Union officials have said they were not optimistic about stopping GM's plans to cut jobs at Ellesmere Port to boost productivity as sales of the ageing Opel/Vauxhall Astra wane.

Unions and GM management are scheduled to meet early today at Ellesmere Port ahead of a formal announcement to workers, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and Trade Secretary Alistair Darling were expected to visit workers at the plant today if they were laid off, the source said.

Unions and the company were making plans for a news conference around 11 a.m., the source also said.

GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster said last week that proposals by unions to spread output cuts over other GM plants in Europe were "not super-attractive". Factories in Belgium and Germany also make the Astra, GM's top-selling car in Europe.

The head of GM's European works council, Klaus Franz, was not available for comment. His office said a statement was planned for today.

Workers at the Vauxhall plant staged a spontaneous walkout in response to Forster's comments last week, temporarily halting production.

British job losses would follow last month's decision by French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen to close its Midlands plant next year, eliminating 2,300 jobs, and the collapse of MG Rover last year.