The latest in a series of high-profile job losses washed up in British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair's backyard yesterday as Fujitsu of Japan announced it was closing a microchip plant in his constituency.
The factory in Newton Aycliffe - within Blair's north-east England constituency of Sedgefield - will cease production immediately and close in December, following shutdown procedures, with the loss of some 570 jobs.
It will be mothballed until the end of February while a buyer is sought.
Mr Takamitsu Tsuchimoto, head of the firm's electronic devices group, blamed the move on a collapse in the global market for computer memory chips.
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