Thousands of workers have staged a protest march to urge the Government to do more to help the country's struggling manufacturing industry.
Former CBI (Confederation of British Industry) boss Lord Digby Jones was among the crowds at the Birmingham demonstration, organised as part of a campaign by Unite to press ministers to hold back the tide of job losses which has engulfed British industry in recent months.
More than 7,000 people braved the rain to take part in the rally, including workers from recession-hit firms such as steel giant Corus and car companies Vauxhall and Jaguar Land Rover.
Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, told the crowds in the city's Centenary Square: "Our message today is it's no good bailing out the banks if you are not looking after the workers, their jobs and their homes.
"It's not banks we should be looking after, it's workers."
The March for Jobs follows another grim week for job losses, with BT and Legal & General announcing thousands of job cuts and official figures showing a 244,000 increase in unemployment to 2.2 million.
Speaking as he prepared to set off on his first ever march, former trade minister Lord Jones said saving the country's manufacturing industry should be the Government's "number one priority".
He said: "If we do not make a stand now then the jobs will go forever.
"We have a Government which has initiative after initiative after initiative and we are seeing manufacturing skills eroded every day. When those skills leave they do not come back.
"People, real people, are saying 'stop talking about your moats and flat screen TVs and deal with the real issue', which is this."
