TONY Blair is tomorrow set to open a high-tech factory helping to ease the pain of a major jobs blow in his backyard.

After rejecting the then-mothballed Fujitsu micro-chip factory Newton Aycliffe, high-tech components maker Senstronics was persuaded by officials to look elsewhere in the County Durham town.

Tomorrow the Prime Minister is expected to officially open its £10m plant on the Aycliffe Industrial Estate.

Fujitsu closed its plant in 1998 with the loss of 570 jobs, but a new owner, Filtronic, is now busily building up its workforce at the plant rejected by Senstronics for being too big.

Up to 200 high quality jobs have been promised in the next two to three years, as full production of the firm's cutting-edge pressure sensors builds up.

In March The Northern Echo revealed how the firm was already planning to extend its factory with a 5,000 sq ft extension, even before full-scale production began.

And further good news is expected to be revealed by the company to coincide with the Sedgefield MP's visit.

Last night Senstronics sales manager Rob Allaker said: "We are now well on the way to commissioning."

He said more than 30 people were already working at the site, with more joining all the time.

While it was proving difficult to find plenty of top quality mechanical, electronic and hydraulic engineers, Mr Allaker said parent company Ultronics had been impressed enough by the attitude of the local workforce to make Newton Aycliffe the centre of the groups' manufacturing operations.

But Ultronics' administrative and financial headquarters will remain in Cheltenham.

"There's an inherent self-motivation here which is not evident in the South," said Mr Allaker.

"The region has done well in promoting itself, the business environment is positive and the team we've built up is so good."