US electronics giant Motorola today confirmed plans to close the Bathgate plant in Scotland where more than 3,000 workers make mobile phones.
A Motorola statement said: "This proposal potentially affects all of the 3,100 employees at the site, although no final decision has yet been made.
"No other Motorola facilities in Scotland or the rest of the UK are affected by this proposal."
The Bathgate plant was granted a last minute stay of execution two weeks ago following personal intervention by the British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair.
The decision to shut the plant, one of the biggest employers in Scotland, is a devastating blow at the heart of 'Silicon Glen', the 50-mile corridor running between Edinburgh and Glasgow which forms the backbone of Scotland's modern economy.
Scotland has already started to feel the chill wind of a slowdown in the US economy, with number one personal computer maker Compaq cutting 700 staff at an assembly plant near Glasgow at the beginning of April.
In a bid to cut costs, Compaq transferred its operations to a lower cost setup in the Czech republic.
Motorola's layoffs are part of a wider cost-cutting programme involving 22,000 job cuts globally as the Chicago-based company struggles to stave off the effects of a global economic downturn, especially in the high tech sector.
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