A THREAT to almost 600 North-East jobs in the tobacco industry moved a significant step closer yesterday when Euro MPs voted to cut permitted tar levels in cigarettes for the domestic and export markets.

The European Parliament also voted for a massive increase in the size of health warnings on cigarette packets, including the use of shock pictures such as rotting teeth and scarred lungs.

British American Tobacco, which owns the Rothmans factories employing 540 at Darlington and another 25 at Peterlee, said that if implemented, the export ban will lead to redundancies among its workforce.

The rules would reduce the tar content allowed in cigarettes from 12mg to a maximum of 10mg per cigarette and introduce an EU ceiling for nicotine of 1mg and of carbon monoxide of 10mg.

MEPs also want the new standards to apply from 2006 to cigarettes exported from the EU, as well as those for European consumption.

This move is resisted by the tobacco industry, which fears production will switch to countries outside the EU.

The new proposed Tobacco Directive must now be approved by EU governments before it becomes law.

Des Johnson, manager of the Darlington factory, said implementation could have severe implications for the North-East. "In effect, it could mean the export of jobs outside the EU," he said. "It will have a major effect on jobs in this factory and it could mean closure."

The move piles further political pressure on Alan Milburn MP, who is facing the prospect of major job losses in his constituency.

The Health Secretary fought shy of commenting on the jobs threat when challenged by The Northern Echo yesterday, but pledged to look "very carefully" at what the European Parliament had decided.

He also insisted there would now have to be a negotiation between the Parliament and the Council of Ministers representing the UK and other EU governments.

But North-East Tory Euro-MP Martin Callanan yesterday pointed out that Mr Milburn and the UK government was broadly in support of the directive.

Mr Callanan warned that hundreds of jobs in Darlington could be "needlessly" lost.

Easington Labour MP John Cummings called on the Tobacco Workers' Alliance to put pressure on his colleagues, Mr Milburn and on Trade Secretary Stephen Byers.

"This will threaten hundreds of jobs in the country without any of the beneficial (health) effects," he said.

Health ministers will discuss the issue in Brussels later today.

l Sportswear firm Avec, which supplies football and cricket shirts to teams across the country, has gone into liquidation.

But the Spennymoor company may receive a lifeline from one of its customers, Grimsby Town FC.

The club's vice-chairman Bryan Huxford said: "We have tried to make contact with the receiver to take the company over.

"We will be making inquiries about the acquisition of the name Avec.