THE thousands of civil servants who may lose their jobs in Government restructuring plans are being forced to wait until July for further details of the cuts.

Emergency talks on the future of the 12,000 workers in Mersey-side and Cheshire faltered yesterday after senior cabinet officials refused to meet unions within the next three months.

The 40,000 national job losses, announced in Wednesday's budget, will be caused by merging the Inland Revenue with Customs and Excise and by streamlining the Department of Work and Pensions.

The Public and Commercial Services Union is now calling for answers from the Government.

Steve Farley, negotiations office for PCS North West, said: "These are not faceless bureaucrats whose lives can be kicked around in a game of political football.

"They are real people ensuring people get their benefits and back in to work, that people get their tax credits and tax evasion is stamped out, that we win the war against drugs and that people get first-class education.

"The list of questions is growing and we need answers."

In a private briefing with MPs after Chancellor Gordon Brown's speech, Chief Secretary Dawn Primorolo said the 10,500 Cus-toms job cuts would be "man-aged" over four years to ensure no compulsory redundancies in the Liverpool office.

Any losses through natural wastage will be matched by the city's share of 20,000 civil service jobs to be shifted from London, it was claimed.

Meanwhile, a Treasury break-down of the impact of the budget predicted a business boom for the North West.

It claimed:

* 1,400 businesses in the North West will be eligible for VAT discounts and annual accounting schemes

* 1,345 more adults will be guaranteed free training for a first level 2 NVQ

* 213 small and 160 large companies will claim tax credits *

*The region's local authorities will be able to retain £130m over three years from a surge in local business rate revenue

* £1,380 a year would be provided for young people to study at further education level

* The average household income would increase by £980 a year compared to 1997

Merseyside MPs were largely in favour of the Budget when questioned last night and praised Government plans to move 20,000 civil service jobs out of London and the South-East to the regions.

Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue employ around 5,000 staff in Merseyside and Cheshire, while the Department for Work and Pensions has around 7,000 in the region.