The chairman of the district's manufacturing alliance today backed the TUC in a row with the Government over the decline of jobs in the industry.

Mick Milner, head of the Airedale and Bradford Manu-facturing Alliance, agreed more should be done to prevent the haemorrhage of jobs overseas.

He spoke as shocking new figures revealed manufacturing employment in Bradford fell by more than 23 per cent from 1998 to 2002 - nearly 11,000 jobs - compared to the national fall of 15.5 per cent. And, in textiles, jobs fell more than 56 per cent.

The cut in manufacturing employment was despite a big increase in the food and drink part of the sector in Bradford, which grew nearly 18 per cent.

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt hit back after the TUC claimed 750,000 manufacturing jobs had gone since Labour came to power in 1997.

"I am in no way complacent about the state of manufacturing," she said. "There is a great deal of exaggeration and rhetoric. When you compare us with France and Germany, we don't have the same level of subsidies, but I don't think higher subsidies are the way forward."

She added: "It is quite wrong to talk down service sector jobs as if they were all temporary jobs in McDonald's. They are not. The average salary is higher than in manufacturing."

But Mr Milner, director of Keighley iron founders Leach and Thompson, said there were dozens of examples of manufacturers in the district switching jobs overseas.

l In January, 225 jobs went at Brook Crompton in Guiseley as it revealed plans to move manufacturing to Eastern Europe and the Far East

l T&D Packaging shut in Bowling Back Lane with the loss of 125 jobs in July last year

l Car piston manufacturer Federal Mogul will shed 380 jobs as it shifts production overseas.

Saltaire hi-tech firm Filtronic has hugely expanded its workforce in China rather than the UK for cost reasons.

"Manufacturing again and again gets a raw deal from politicians," Mr Milner said today. "They don't understand the needs of manufacturing and therefore some of the help they purport to give goes in completely the wrong direction.

"Many manufacturers know what they need to do to improve profitability but the Govern-ment wants to give us more consultants to tell us what we already know.

"I have been disappointed with both Labour and Conservative governments - both followed very much the same lines, which I suspect are dictated by Europe."

Mr Milner said the future of manufacturing in the UK lay in a highly skilled workforce making high quality products.

"We are not going to have a manufacturing base in this country that will survive on making millions of widgets," he said. "We have got to produce widgets with an 'x' factor."