“Wait and see” approach as ship builder’s contract is reviewed.

250 jobs are in doubt after The Ministry of Defence said they were “recosting” a £75m aircraft carrier project at South Tyneside.

A leaked report said “There is a very real fight for the programme’s survival” after the cost to built the HMS Queen Elizabeth and the HMS Prince of Wales has soared by £1bn this year.

The A&P Tyne yard was due to carry out part of the work on the 65,000 tonne carriers, which would protect 250 jobs.

Managing director Dave Skentelbery said: “We will have to wait and see what the client says, so it’s really too early to comment.”

The cost is expected to rise from £3.9bn to around £5bn, with the memo adding “substantial redundancies” could be needed.

GMB regional secretary Tom Brennan said: “It would be very disappointing if the programme was scuppered, because we need this work in both Hebburn and the rest of the UK.

“But the huge overspends are not unusual in this type of programme, and with the current situation in various parts of the world, we cannot afford to have a proper defence strategy.”

The Hebburn site received a much smaller-than-expected share of the contract to build the two warships, with a MoD spokesman saying: “We acknowledged at the time there would be a cost increase as a result [of the delays].

“We are currently recosting the programme.”