A CLAIM by the European Commission that a ban on high-tar tobacco exports will not lead to job losses in the North-East has been rejected by union leaders.

Consumer affairs commissioner David Byrne says there is no evidence that stopping the manufacture of cigarettes of more than 10mg tar content for sale anywhere in the world will have "serious negative economic or employment consequences".

Mr Byrne said that applying the limit to all EU-made cigarettes was "essential to ensure that no diversion occurs, that the application of the product rules are open to control, and that a high level of public health protection is ensured".

However, unions in the North-East maintain that the measures will threaten more than 500 jobs at the Rothmans plant in Darlington.

Gerry Hunter, regional representative of engineers' union, the AEEU, said: "I would challenge what Mr Byrne is saying. The directive will force manufacturers to make their higher tar cigarettes somewhere else and export jobs out of Europe, and into places like North Africa.

"The jobs we have got in Darlington and places like Southampton are quality jobs, with good pay and conditions, and are worth fighting for.

"The companies involved won't suffer a big hit, the workers will."

A worker said: "If you shut down a factory of this size there are huge implications for people like the retailers of Darlington, which they don't fully realise."

The tobacco industry claims that the maximum tar directive will affect more than 10,000 UK jobs, because the rules will apply to exports as well as to cigarettes made and sold in Britain and the rest of the EU.

The Tobacco Workers' Alliance (TWA), which unites the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association and the unions, has said: "The ban will lead to the closure of a Southampton-based British American Tobacco factory.

"There will be also further likely closures of Rothmans in Darlington, Gallaher in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, and huge job losses at Imperial Tobacco in Nottingham."

The TWA wants the 10mg tar ceiling to apply only within the EU, enabling British manufacturers to compete equally with the rest of the world.

In the meantime, Mr Byrne says he will consider extending the 2003 deadline for implementation, to give firms time to adjust their marketing and manufacturing.