WORKERS leaving a North-East textile factory for the final time said the loss of 350 jobs had left them feeling bitter.

As Sara Lee Courtaulds in Tindale Crescent, Bishop Auckland shut down last week workers accused Tony Blair of letting them down.

They also hit out at Marks and Spencer, saying the High Street chain should also shoulder some of the responsibility for sending them to the dole queue.

The clothing manufacturer announced its closure in May, blaming its decision on a failure to secure a new contract to make clothes for Marks and Spencer's designer Autograph range. It is feared that the work has been taken abroad.

A spokesman for Marks and Spencer said: "As a company, Sara Lee Courtaulds must make the commercial decisions it feels appropriate for the future of its business.

"We are committed to strong, strategic relationships with our key suppliers in order to deliver to our customers good quality clothing at outstanding value and available where and when our customers want to buy."

As staff filed out of the factory one woman, who did not wish to be named, called for tax to be put on imported goods to stop companies sending work abroad.

She said: "There is no way that the work should have been sent abroad. It is getting to the stage if you want a job in this industry you will have to move to China or Morocco because they pay slave labour over there.

"The Government should put tax on importing goods then it would cost too much to send work abroad. Effectively, Tony Blair has put us on the dole queue."

Some of the workers tied posters to the gates, criticising Tony Blair and encouraging people to buy British.

Maurice Catchpole, 54, who worked at the factory for 13 years, said that the workforce felt that it had been stabbed in the back and were disgusted that the Government had done nothing to intervene.