A TORY MP is requesting an urgent meeting with Treasury ministers over his Government’s plans to move tax jobs out of Southend.

James Duddridge criticised his own Government over plans to shift Southend tax office jobs to Stratford, which could affect 1,265 workers.

Themove to shut Alexander House, in Victoria Avenue, Southend, is seen as a huge blow to the town because it has been a base for the tax office for decades.

Mr Duddridge, MP for Rochford and Southend East, said: “I am extremely disappointed to learn HMRC plan s to close Alexander House.

“I have written to David Gauke, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, to raise my concerns about the closure of the site.

“David has previously visited Alexander House, met some of the staff and seen the work that is carried out locally.

I have requested a meeting at the Treasury to discuss this decision and I will update constituents once I have had this meeting.”

The Government says the move to East London will see a regional centre employing between 5,000 and 7,000 people by 2021.

But the current office is one of the biggest in the country, responsible for delivering tax credits and income tax.

Unions say they are hopeful they can force a re-think, and will write to Mr Duddridge, Southend West MP Sir David Amess, and Southend Council leader Ron Woodley asking them to back their campaign to keep it open.

But one union official said he thought several staff would leave HMRC, and not choose to relocate to the capital.

Andy Lord, Public and Commercial Services Union secretary for Southend, said: “A lot of these jobs are relatively well paid and relatively highly-skilled, so they are professional jobs.

“So there the alternatives don’t exist in Southend for jobs that pay the same or offer the same career prospects.

“I guess a lot of people will go.

“I think it’s possible to force a rethink.

“Never say never. But we can only do that by pointing out the strangeness in thinking in the drive to create regional centres.”