BOSSES at BAE Systems could land multi-million pound bonuses, despite hundreds of workers in East Lancashire facing redundancy.

It is understood chief executive Ian King, finance director Peter Lynas and US chief Linda Hudson are set to cash in after the group was handed almost £200 million in a tax rebate, which will boost its earnings to share - the measure by which annual bonuses and long-term share awards are determined.

The pay package for the year to December is set to be announced tomorrow (Thursday) but an East Lancashire MP said it was 'ill timed' with hundreds of jobs under threat at Samlesbury and Warton.

Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle said: "It will be bitterly disappointing for the people facing redundancy not just in Lancashire but Yorkshire.

"Are they paying bonuses to people for sacking people?

"If they win the India contract then people may think they deserve a bonus, but not when we've gone from first to second place.

"It's ill-timed and ill thought out."

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said: "I think all businesses, public and private, should heed the mood of these times and giving lavish bonuses whilst others are losing their jobs will leave a very nasty taste in the mouth.”

The group is expected to report a 10 per cent fall in underlying earnings to £2 billion in 2011 as defence spending in the UK and the US comes under pressure.

Revenues are set to be down by about £2 billion to £20 billion as a result of a reduction to supply orders to the US Army after it pulled out of Iraq and a delay in an order for Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia.

BAE last year signalled the end of production at its factory in Brough, Yorkshire, which employed 1,300 workers, as part of a round of 3,000 redundancies at sites across the UK.

A BAE spokesman said: "Executive pay is performance-related and aligned to the interests of shareholders."