Graduate jobs created in North West - graduate jobs

Graduates will be hoping to get themselves to the front of the queue as thousands of new jobs are set to be created in the North West.

Haulage firm Eddie Stobart in Widnes and Pilkington Glass of St Helens are among the firms benefiting from Government's Regional Growth Fund which has resulted in grants totalling more than £1.4 billion being awarded to 35 firms.

Pilkington Glass will get £5 million towards a £33 million investment that will be used to find new ways to make the production of its glass more competitive in Europe, while a £9 million grant will go towards a £139 million expansion of Stobart's Widnes site.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg visited the two firms to announce the grants, which between them should help create more than 3,500 jobs directly and around 1,500 indirectly.

In total, it is thought the 35 grants awarded in this round of bidding will directly protect 13,000 jobs and another 41,000 further down the recipients' supply line.

Copyright Press Association 2011