Last week the factory, which is owned by General Motors, was saved from closure, preserving 2,100 jobs and creating 700 more in a £125m investment.

Elizabeth Lowe, North West business partner for Semta, the sector skills council for science, engineering and manufacturing, said: “After undertaking a skills gap analysis and working through the Semta Skills and Growth Working Group, we found that if the company wanted to grow it would need to ensure it had a robust skills succession plan, and as a result Vauxhall will be recruiting more apprentices.”

Bob Holmes, HR training manager at the Vauxhall site, also commented: “The decision to double our intake of technical apprentices brings a real opportunity for young people in the North West. Apprentices bring new capabilities, skills and technologies which help businesses to stay ahead.”

Bill Twigg, apprenticeship director at Semta, said: “Technical skills are scarce and are getting more difficult and expensive to hire. Around 15 per cent of apprentices demonstrated the competence of a skilled craftsman after only 30 months on the programme, so can deliver real cost benefits to the company, as well as having a positive impact on tackling youth unemployment.”