A LABOUR MP is to lead an 11th hour mission to boost the chances of Nissan bosses deciding to build the new Micra in Sunderland.

The company is expected to announce a decision from its Tokyo headquarters before the end of the month.

An estimated one-fifth of the 5,000 jobs at the Wearside plant are thought to be hanging in the balance, along with thousands more in the local supply industry.

Local MP Fraser Kemp will be in Brussels next week in a bid to persuade the European Commission to rubber stamp a £40m aid package for Nissan.

The decision by Toyota - whose Derby plant is the second most productive in Europe behind Sunderland - to increase production by a third in the UK creating 300 new jobs, is seen by many as a boost to the Sunderland factory's fight.

Toyota will increase vehicle production in the UK by almost a third, switching manufacture of its three-door Corolla model from Japan to the Burnaston factory near Derby.

The company described the move as a "survival plan" aimed at countering extreme market conditions facing car manufacturers in the UK. Production will rise from the present 170,000 vehicles a year in Britain to 220,000 in 2002, still well below Nissan's current level of around 300,000 units a year.

Mr Kemp, whose Washington and Houghton-le-Spring constituency includes the Nissan site, will meet EC Commissioner for Competition, Mario Monti.

Wearside is battling against the Renault factory in Flins, France, for the Micra contract and the EU will decide whether the proposed aid contravenes European rules on competition.

"It is difficult to see how a decision on the new Micra could be made without discovering whether this grant has been given the go-ahead," said Mr Kemp.

"It makes up 25 per cent of the £200m cost of the necessary upgrade at the Wearside plant, and we remain confident that it can be secured."

But reports that the decision on the Micra has been deferred by Nissan until February came as news to bosses at Sunderland.

A spokeswoman for the Wearside plant said: "As far as we are aware, a decision will be made on the new Micra by the end of the month and we remain optimistic that the North-East site will be successful."

The DTI has already drawn up an emergency jobs rescue plan in the event of Wearside not getting the new Micra.

Martin O'Neill MP, Commons Trade and Industry committee chairman, said after the events last year at Vauxhall and Ford it was a prudent move. "It is the case of preparing for the worst but expecting the best," he said.

Meanwhile, Toyota's announcement was immediately seized on as ammunition in the debate over Britain's stance on the European single currency.

Senior Toyota UK director Brian Jackson said the company still believed investment in Britain would be made more attractive if it joined the euro