British Waterways, which looks after the country’s 2,200-mile canal network, said the redundancies would come as part of an overhaul of its operations.

Around a third of the job cuts are set to come from plans to merge two of British Waterways’ regional operations – its West Midlands and Tamworth-based “Central Shires” arms.

British Waterways has launched an attack on the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), warning that some waterways could close after it was forced to make major cuts.

The BBC said that British Waterways has blamed Defra’s expensive mismanagement of farm subsidies after its budget was cut by 15 per cent.

Defra told the corporation it has overspent by £200 million.

Other bodies such as the Environment Agency and Natural England are also expected to have their budgets squeezed.

A spokesman for trade union Unison, which represents many British Waterways staff, said: “Unison believes it’s an absolute disgrace that 180 hard-working, loyal members of staff at British Waterways face the prospect of losing their job due to incompetence at Defra.”

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