AN opportunity to build on aircraft carrier work coming to the region could be wasted because of a skilled labour shortage, an MP has warned.

Dari Taylor, MP for Stockton South, challenged Tony Blair in Prime Minister's Question Time to make sure her constituency had the means to build for the future.

Swan Hunter, which has yards on the Tees and Tyne, was named as one of the four principal manufacturers to benefit from the £2.9bn Ministry of Defence contract for two aircraft carriers.

The project has been divided between the two rival bidders for the contract - BAE Systems and Thales, which is part owned by the French government.

Ms Taylor told the Commons the order was welcome but there needed to be Government investment.

Speaking later she said the average age of a Teesside boilermaker was 48, but the contract for the aircraft carrier, including maintenance, stretched for 20 years.

She said: ''We need now to replace these skilled people when they retire and also to ensure that people learn new skills so that we can win new contracts.

''My anxiety is that for far too long, we've not had the confidence to expand our skills in our population.

"The Government, the private sector and local authorities need to ensure that happens.''