A west Cumbrian businessman has been forced to shed a quarter of its workforce in what he described as the hardest point of his career.

Malcolm Wilson OBE, managing director at M-Sport, said he had to make the tough decision to make 63 workers redundant.

The company previously employed 238 staff at its Dovenby headquarters.

Mr Wilson said: "This has been the hardest point in my 40 years in business. With no competition and delays in getting the new M-Sport Evaluation Centre up and running some tough decisions have had to be made, and we have sadly had to make 63 redundancies to safeguard the future of the company.

"The Bentley race programme has been reduced and the Jaguar I-PACE project has been cancelled for 2021, but we’ve overcome tough times before and I’m fully committed to doing that again. We’ve won the tender to provide a new TOCA BTCC engine for 2022, and once the Evaluation Centre is operational I’m confident that we can come out the other side and continue to provide for the area."

The company is in the process of building the new Evaluation Centre and reassurances have been given that the project will press-ahead, creating around 100 jobs in the future.

M-Sport said: "The Evaluation Centre is considered integral to the future of the business so work on this has continued throughout. Plans remain on course and once the facility is up and running it will create further jobs in the local area.

"The effects of the global pandemic have however had a considerable impact on other, existing areas of the business – a reduced programme for the Bentley race team, the cancellation of next year’s Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY, and the simple fact that our customers have not been able to go rallying or racing over the past four months. It’s in these areas of the business where, sadly, we have had to make the redundancies in order to safeguard the future of the company."

Tony Cunningham, former Labour MP for Workington between 2001 and 2015, has seen the business grow since its inception.

He said: "I know Malcolm extremely well. It's devastating news for the workforce. Any job losses are bad news, but the loss of highly skilled jobs magnify the impact of them on the local economy."

Mike Johnson, interim leader of Allerdale council, said: "I'm saddened to hear of the job losses at M-Sport as I know how important these roles are to the economy not just of the Dovenby and Cockermouth area but of the wider borough and county.

"As a council we will do whatever we can to support the company, staff and wider community through these uncertain times and work closely with partners."

Nicky Cockburn, who represents the area on Allerdale council, said: "It's devastating news for a local business, I'm very sad to hear there's been redundancies.

"It's the type of jobs that we want around here, we want the high skilled professionals."