Tony Blair has ordered Ministers to draw up a new industrial strategy for manufacturing in the West Midlands following a series of factory closures.

He has told Alistair Darling, his new Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, to look again at what the Government can do to help the region's economy thrive.

It follows the announcement of 2,300 redundancies at the Peugeot plant in Coventry.

The closure of MG Rover last year cost 6,000 jobs, while Jaguar axed 1,000 jobs when it quit its Coventry site in Browns Lane.

Tractor manufacturer Massey Ferguson also closed in 2003 with the loss of 1,000 jobs.

The Prime Minister prom-ised to take action when he met West Midland MPs in Downing Street.

The summit was organised by Jim Cunningham (Lab Coventry South), chairman of the Labour group of MPs in the region.

He said: "We talked about further development of industry for the future and raised the Peugeot issue.

"He said he would tell Alistair Darling to have a look at the Government's industrial strategy for the West Midlands, which we felt was a positive step.

"We have been asking for this for some time."

Staffordshire MPs attending the meeting highlighted the problems facing the ceramics industry in the county.

Specific issues raised by the MPs included investment in research and development in the region and the importance of education funding.

"The West Midlands is doing very well in R&D but we still know it is below the national average," said Mr Cunningham.

"The next step will be for us to request a meeting with Mr Darling."

The meeting, which lasted an hour, was attended by 20 MPs and other topics discussed included spending cuts in Midland hospitals. ..SUPL: