Up to 600 jobs are at risk, with news that a leading construction company has gone into administration.

Shropshire-based Wrekin Construction Group, which banks with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), said it was forced into administration because of the bank's "inflexibility" in releasing funds.

Wrekin, which also has bases in Yorkshire, Northamptonshire and Cheshire, said it had millions of pounds worth of orders.

Conservative MP for the area the firm is based in, Mark Pritchard said: "This is a long-standing and successful company with a large order book which has been driven into administration by the inflexibility of the RBS.

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"Some of the blame has to fall on the doorstep on 10 Downing Street, given the government’s majority shareholding in the RBS."

Building Workers' union Ucatt also said a healthy company was failing because banks would not lend.

"There is a particular problem with the banks bailed out by government cash not passing it on to construction companies. This must be the last example of this problem," Alan Ritchie, general secretary of Ucatt said.

Wrekin, which also has subsidiaries in Staffordshire and Scotland, was established in 1960. Its work includes motorway and highway construction, refurbishment work to canals, rivers, rail routes and infrastructure, sewers and drainage.

(JM/NS)