Mobile phone giant Motorola yesterday ended weeks of uncertainty and confirmed that it is to close its plant in West Lothian, despite behind-the-scenes pleas from ministers and the prime minister. 3,100 jobs will be lost at the plant. JDS Uniphase, another US-owned electronics company, also said that it was closing factories in Bracknell, Hillend in Fife and in Oxford, with the loss of 515 jobs.

The foreign secretary, who had appealed to Motorola to keep the plant open and whose Livingston constituency is close to the factory, accused Motorola of creating a "human tragedy".

The government is demanding the repayment of the majority of £20 million worth of aid from Motorola.

The chancellor yesterday told an audience of bankers that the UK could not be insulated from the global economic slowdown - as the job losses prove - but added that his policies meant that the UK would fare better than most of its European competitors.

This view was echoed in a leaked IMF report, which cut euro-zone growth from 3.4 to 2.4 per cent this year, whilst only cutting UK growth by 0.2 per cent to 2.6 per cent.

Labour MP Tam Dalyell, whose constituency includes Motorola's Bathgate plant, blamed the job losses on the government's economic policies, and said that governments around the world had asked too much for the next generation of mobile phone licences.