WORKERS’ union Amicus is to carry out its threat of cancelling an £8 million fleet deal with Vauxhall after 900 workers were laid off at the firm’s Ellesmere Port factory.

Parent company General Motors broke the news that a night shift – a third of the total plant workforce – was to be axed after weeks of rumour.

Amicus had threatened to cancel its company car deal with Vauxhall and recommend to its members and their families that they boycott the Luton company if the redundancies were confirmed.

An Amicus spokesperson said: ‘We’ve not cancelled it yet, but we will be. We’re also encouraging our members not to buy Vauxhalls if they don’t invest in the UK.’

Vauxhall declined to comment. GM has said it hopes the redundancies will be voluntary, but the Transport and General Workers Union, also representing workers, said its members had voted unanimously to reject such a programme.

Meanwhile Vauxhall has applied for millions of pounds of Government grant aid to prevent the complete closure of Ellesmore Port.

A decision on whether to build the next generation of Astra at the Merseyside site is to be made in the first half of next year.

If Ellesmere Port is not chosen it would almost certainly mean the plant would shut with the loss of the remaining 2,300 jobs.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged to speak to GM chief executive Rick Wagoner to offer any appropriate Government support.