North-east car maker Nissan will join the exodus of British car production to Eastern Europe unless flexible labour laws are scrapped, a union warned MPs yesterday.

In evidence to a Commons committee, Amicus raised the spectre of the death of the British car industry because it was "easier, cheaper and quicker" to sack workers in this country.

The warning followed the announcements of 900 redundancies at the Vauxhall plant, in Ellesmere Port, and the closure of Peugeot's Ryton plant, in Coventry, with the loss of 2,300 jobs.

The wave of redunduncies has prompted the all-party trade and industry committee to launch an inquiry into the future of British car manufacturing.

Derek Simpson, the Amicus general secretary, praised Nissan, Honda and Toyota for investing in their British plants and increasing production, while General Motors and Ford cut back.

Japanese manufacturers viewed Britain as a "gateway" into the Western European market and were therefore in less of a rush to shift production to the east of the continent, he said.

But Mr Simpson added: "At what point will the Japanese take the same position that General Motors and Ford have taken and take advantage of the cheaper labour in the east?

"I predict that the Japanese car makers will, at some point, follow the others."

In March, Nissan president Carlos Ghosn warned that the company's factory, in Washington, Wearside, faced an "uphill struggle" to compete.

However, production of the Note family car began in January and another vehicle, known as the Qashqai, will start production at Washington in December.