Solidarity is warning of the dire consequences for the community in Teeside if the Dow chemical plant closes. Dows decision to withdraw from the Wilton plant will further demoralise and damage a community already battered by job losses. It will also destabalise the vital British chemical sector.

Dow has said it will close the plant in January 2010 with the immediate loss of up to 260 skilled jobs in the north east. The closure could also lead to a crisis across the whole chemical sector. Wilton is the only British site making ethylene oxide, a strategic raw material which is central to the production of everyday goods from antifreeze to make-up.

Solidarity Executive member David Durant commented:-

"This site is important to both the local Teeside community and strategically to the whole chemical industry. The government must intervene in the national interest."