A EURO-MP has blasted a firm's timing in closing a 450-job abattoir - just before Christmas.

Dr Gordon Adam, MEP for the North-East, said closure of the Malton Bacon slaughter-house, in Middlesbrough, is a blow for the workforce, and for pig farmers who have been left to find alternative buyers sooner than expected.

"This is not only a heavy blow to the 450 employees at an expensive time of year, but also to pig farmers across the region,'' he said.

"It will greatly add to the problems of farmers in having to find alternative buyers much earlier, and place upon them the high cost of transporting pigs to other abattoirs well away from the region.''

Dr Adam claimed the plant was being axed two months earlier than promised.

He said: "While closure may make economic sense for the company, it makes very little sense to anyone else.

"It drives up costs to the farmers who may now have to transport pigs to Hull or Manchester for slaughter, adding to road congestion and increasing prices for shoppers.''

A spokesman for the firm said last night that closure was being achieved in full consultation with the unions, and the workforce.

"As far as the employees are concerned they fully understand and expect it," he said.

"They will not lose out financially as a result of any decision which does bring closure forward."

He said more than 100 workers had been interviewed about relocating to the plant in Malton, North Yorkshire.