AN MP has called on the new Westminster government to change plans and to save 400 jobs in the Teesside area.

Four hundred jobs are under threat in Thornaby as part of plans to reconfigure HM Revenue and Customs across the country.

Now Stockton South MP Dr Paul Williams has written to financial secretary to the Treasury Jesse Norman arguing the case for Thornaby as the new administration has offered a cash boost to 'left-behind' towns.

He said that research by the PCS Union shows that if the Government continues with its plans to close the HMRC office in Thornaby, local businesses on Stockton High Street will lose the £1.7m a year that staff spend on the High Street.

In a letter to the Treasury, Dr Williams called on the government to think again, arguing that cutting jobs from Teesside would undermine their recent announcements on boosting towns and local High Streets.

Dr Williams said: “It’s no good the new Prime Minister making empty promises about a boost for struggling towns with one hand, whilst threatening the livelihoods of 400 people in our area with the other.”

“Closing George Stephenson House would cost our town £1.7 million a year.

"The people working there are parents, carers, supporting their families who have built their lives around their work.

"To move the jobs all the way to Newcastle is just callous.”

“I’m calling on the new government to change course and save these jobs.”

Gordon Rowntree from the PCS Union which represents staff at George Stephenson House added:

“It’s so important that local MPs maintain their support for our members at George Stephenson House, so we’re glad to see Paul Williams is calling on Boris Johnson and his new government to think again.”

“Teesside can’t afford any more job losses and these ones could be so avoidable. If the government really cared about saving our towns, they would stop the closure of George Stephenson House and save these jobs.”

He said that Conservative Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Simon Clarke, who was recently appointed a Treasury Minister by Boris Johnson, had said last year he disagreed with the decision to move the jobs elsewhere.