Around 130 jobs are being axed at a key manufacturing plant in Silicon Glen which is being closed down, it was announced yesterday.

Production workers at Sun Microsystems' only Scottish site were told yesterday that they will all be made redundant next year as part of worldwide cutbacks.

The company, which has its headquarters in America, said it was consolidating all future manufacturing to a site in Oregon in a bid to reduce costs in the economic crisis.

The remainder of its 800-strong Scottish workforce at Linlithgow were told that they would not be affected by the cuts when they come into force in June.

The losses are part of the first phase of a global round of redundancies at Sun announced last month which will see up to 6000 jobs axed worldwide.

Mary Mulligan, Labour MSP for Linlithgow, said: "Obviously it's not a good time to be given news like that. Sun Microsystems are a great employer in Linlithgow. Through a number of hard times they have managed to weather the storm because they are so progressive and have continued to upgrade their work to always be ahead of the market.

"I would expect them to continue to do that and secure the jobs that are left. It's a big worry when it redundancy starts because you don't know where it will end."

Michael Connarty, Labour MP for Linlithgow, added: "It's a bit of a slap in the face for a very loyal workforce."

Questioning the reasons behind the move, he added: "I take a dim view of people who are doing work in the US which they could do in Europe and expecting people in Europe to buy their products."

Both he and West Lothian Council called for talks with management over the future of the plant at Linlithgow.

GMB Scotland warned that the damage to the nation's electronics sector spelled growing gloom for Scotland's economy next year.

The Scottish Government has already initiated discussions with senior Sun management in Scotland and America to "mitigate" the impact of the decision.

Defending the timing of the announcement, a Sun spokeswoman said: "Obviously it's a difficult time ... but Sun is trying to be as transparent as they can in giving employees as much notice as they can so that they will have quite a lot of time to be redeployed within Sun or to look for work elsewhere."