Prime Minister Gordon Brown has vowed to provide support for Woolworths staff threatened with redundancy.

About 30,000 people may lose their jobs following the variety store group’s collapse into administration on Wednesday.

Brown hopes that Woolworths shops will remain open over the Christmas trading season.

He said: “The important thing is in the long run that employees in this company – where the businesses and the shops are not going to stay open in the longer term – can get other jobs quickly.

“That’s why we’re going to move in immediately to give advice to employees in the company.”

Woolworths’ administrator, Deloitte, is hunting for potential buyers of Woolworths stores and its wholesale business, EUK, which was also put into administration.

It emerged today that Camelot, operator of the National Lottery, has suspended business with Woolworths “pending the company finding a satisfactory conclusion to its current trading difficulties”.