HIGH street retailer Marks and Spencer yesterday announced a rise in profits from its clothing division, a few months after turning its back on North-East clothing manufacturers.

The store chain's first quarter figures showed a 3.9 per cent rise in sales of clothing, footwear and gifts, contributing to a 2.8 per cent increase in general merchandise sales.

About 350 jobs are to go in October at clothing manufacturer Sara Lee Courtaulds, in Tindale Crescent, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, after M&S moved production overseas.

Derek Cattell, regional organiser for the GMB union, which represented the workers affected, said: "This is rubbing salt into the wounds.

"It proves our point that the whole thing is not about more advanced production techniques or greater quality. It is about the bottom line profit and thousands of clothing workers in the North-East have found that out to their cost."

He said that since 1991, the union had seen a fall in North-East membership from 12,000 to less than 3,000, as clothing manufacturing in the region has suffered.

The jobs at Sarah Lee Courtaulds came under threat in May, when the factory lost its only contract to produce the exclusive Autograph range for M&S, which will take the work to Morocco.

A spokeswoman for M&S said the company was reducing production costs to cut the retail price of the Autograph range. "We have to sell it at a price that makes our customers want to buy it," she said.

Fashion ranges on sale at M&S, which has enjoyed a revival in its fortunes during the past two years, include a children's label created with help from England captain David Beckham.

M&S said that as a result of the stronger performance, ten per cent less stock than last year had been reduced during its summer sale, which began on July 3.