A further 150 jobs are to go in the hard-hit hi-tech industry in Devon.

Workers at JDS Uniphase in Torquay have been told their jobs will end by September.

Last year the US-based company, which makes internet components, closed its two sites in Plymouth with the loss of 160 jobs.

Now Torbay MP Adrian Sanders is calling for government help to stem the rising level of unemployment in the area.

'Badly hit'

Mr Sanders said: "We can't afford just one more job loss, let alone another 150.

"The economy here has taken some substantial hits in the past couple of months."

JDS Uniphase is the latest hi-tech industry in the region to announces job losses.

Nortel Networks has lost 4000 jobs in Paignton over the past year.

And 250 jobs have gone in Torquay at Sifam - a subsidiary of JDS Uniphase.

The redundancies mean that although unemployment is falling across the South West as a whole, it is rising in Torbay.

However, Torbay's head of regeneration said there was still a future for the hi-tech industry in the region.

"We're going through a very bad period where the hi-tech sector readjusts, but there is a long-term future for the skilled people in the Bay," said Gordon Woodend.

"But we are very much looking to central government to help Torbay's situation."