Tony Blair is engaged in an 11th hour bid to salvage 3000 jobs at Motorola's plant in Bathgate.

As the company publishes dire profits figures, Blair has personally intervened in an attempt to halt the closure of the east Scotland mobile phone plant which employs 3000 people.

In a 15-minute telephone call to the company's boss, Chris Galvin, the prime minister called on the closure to be postponed until "all options" have been discussed.

New data shows that the company lost over $200 million in its first quarter - the first loss recorded by the telecoms giant in over 15 years.

Blair is hoping that his intervention will prevent a repeat of the Corus fiasco in which ministers appeared wrong-footed over the loss of 6000 jobs across the UK.

Trade unions have welcomed Blair's intervention and are calling on the Scottish executive to keep the pressure on Motorola over the coming days.

Wendy Alexander, the Scottish executive's enterprise minister, said the company must examine whether closure was the only option for the troubled plant.

Speaking on BBC Scotland she said: "The important thing is that there has been a real stay of execution. The pressure to try and jump in response to these very bad results has been arrested and there is a chance to go back to 'what is the case for Motorola in Scotland?'"

Motorola has said no decision has yet been made on the future of the plant, but had earlier stressed that it was seeking to shed 6000 jobs globally.