Decision day for textile staff

The Pennywell factory is one of three in Sunderland

Almost 400 textile workers in north-east England will find out on Monday if they still have a job.

In May, Dewhirst said it would have to close two of three factories on Wearside because of the continued consumer pressure on prices hitting profits in UK manufacturing.

On Monday management at the company will tell staff who is to stay and who will lose their jobs.

Dewhirst has already closed one site at Leechmere in Sunderland and now plans to merge its three remaining Sunderland factories onto its Hendon site.

The news follows 340 redundancies at the Sara Lee clothing factory in County Durham, which were also announced in May.

Both companies make makes clothing for Marks and Spencer.

Marks and Spencer says it can source work more cheaply abroad.

But union officials, MPs and council bosses have criticised the high street retailer for not "buying British".