THE bulk of hundreds of Lancashire job losses at BAE Systems could be found through voluntary redundancies and redeployments, according to an MP.

Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle said he had been told by the defence giant that very few of the almost 450 job cuts at Samlesbury and Warton, which were announced last month, would be forced redundancies.

Instead, many staff would take early retirement or volunteer for redundancy, or possibly be moved to other BAE sites in the North West.

Mr Hoyle, along with Labour counterpart and Hyndburn MP Graham Jones, has held talks with BAE bosses to try to minimise the impact of job cuts.

He said: “I have spoken to BAE and they have said that there will not be compulsory redundancies.

“They will move people around and they are also looking for voluntary redundancies.

"We have got Samlesbury and Warton, as well as the site in Bolton, and some of the redundancies could be on RAF bases, where some workers are based, anyway.”

BAE said last month that the 149 job losses at Samlesbury were due to a reduction in Spirit Aero-systems workload.

The 298 Warton cuts relate to the Tornado, Harrier and Hawk programmes.

Mr Hoyle said he hoped to see BAE try to win work for the A400M, the giant Airbus aircraft which replaces the RAF’s dated Hercules fleet.

However, he warned that a further blow for East Lancashire workers would arrive in the Government’s strategic defence and security review, due at the end of the month.

BAE bosses are currently around a third of the way into a 90-day consultation with unions over the planned job cuts.

A spokesman said: “We will be exploring all opportunities to mitigate these potential job losses with the trade unions and employee representatives to ensure the best possible outcome for both the individuals affected and the business.

“We are keeping our employees informed of progress of the consultations.”