LONDON British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday urged anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus to think again about its plans to slash more than 6,000 jobs in Britain, AFP reported.

Blair called the firm's announcement, which comes just months before an expected general election, a "devastating blow" to the firm's workforce.

And, reflecting government anger at the company's conduct, he urged its executives to enter into discussions with Downing Street "even at this late stage".

The group said earlier on Thursday that poor domestic demand and the strength of sterling against the euro were causing its steel operations to lose about one million pounds (1.6 million euros, $1.5 million) a day, forcing it to scale down production and cut back exports from Britain.

The latest cuts take the number of jobs axed by the group in the past year to around 10,500 -- a staggering one-third of its British workforce.

Blair, speaking to Labour Party activists, said: "We will do everything we can to turn the situation around and I hope even at this late stage the company will be prepared to sit down and talk with us."

He added: "We will do everything we can to help people over the next few days."

He said there would be a series of talks "with all the parties concerned".

Corus, formed in October 1999 from the merger of British Steel and Hoogovens of the Netherlands, said it was halting steel production at its giant Lanwern factory near Newport in South Wales, shutting down another nearby at Ebbw Vale and cutting jobs at several other facilities.

The group said that the strength of the pound against the single European currency had "dramatically worsened" its competitiveness overseas and as a result it was no longer profitable to export steel from Britain.

Earlier on Thursday, Downing Street had expressed its concern that the first it had known of the scale of the announcement was when Trade Secretary Stephen Byers had talks with company Chairman Brian Moffat early at 8:00 a.m. (0800 GMT).

Corus, which expects to post a full-year loss of 1.05 billion pounds when it reports next month, hopes that the measures will generate savings of 180 million pounds a year from 2003.

It also expects steel prices to recover in the second half of the year as a result of the production cut and those of other European producers.