An aluminium manufacturer in north Wales is to shut with the loss of 250 jobs despite the offer of a multimillion pound rescue package from the government, it emerged tonight.
Anglesey Aluminium Metal will cease its smelting activities next month, the company said in a statement.
Last month 140 people at the firm, based near Holyhead, took voluntary redundancy following a consultation exercise about its future. A further 250 people have now been given compulsory redundancy after negotiations to secure the firm's future failed.
A spokesman for the firm said: "AAM and its joint venture partners Rio Tinto Alcan and Kaiser Aluminum have assessed a number of alternate solutions. Despite the best efforts of all involved, it has not been possible to reach a viable solution."
Peter Hain, the Welsh secretary, said he was bitterly disappointed at the closure. "We put forward an extremely generous proposal in good faith which would have provided £48m in financial assistance to the plant over the next four years," he said. "We undertook a huge amount of detailed work in a very short time to put the package together but it was simply not possible to reach an agreement."
Gwilym Owen of the Unite union said a huge effort had gone in to keeping the company afloat. "The most disappointing thing of all is that we were so close to getting an agreement," he said.
Ynys Mon MP Albert Owen warned the closure would be a "devastating blow to the region's economy".
Ieuan Wyn Jones, the island's AM, who is also economic development minister with the Welsh assembly and leader of Plaid Cymru, said it was "devastating news for the workforce and for the island's economy". He told the BBC: "I am extremely disappointed that the company did not feel able to accept the offer of support on the terms set out."
The leader of Anglesey council, Clive McGregor, said the closure was a "huge blow not only for the workers at the smelter, but for the whole economy of Anglesey".
