Workers wait to hear their fate

Since the initial announcement, management, unions, politicians and the government have been meeting in an attempt to reduce the projected losses and provide help and training for workers.

Rolls-Royce would not comment on the matter except to confirm that a statement will be issued on the job cuts before the end of the week.

Derby North MP Bob Laxton said: "I would guess they will announce these figures and then throw open some redundancy arrangements to say to people 'who wants to go, perhaps on a voluntary basis?'

"Then they can see if the requests for voluntary redundancy match the numbers on each site that they're looking to lose and then see where they go from there."