Unite, the UK's biggest union, and local Labour MP Andrew Miller have joined forces to secure the future of Shell’s last UK manufacturing site in Stanlow, Cheshire.

A question mark hangs over the future of the UK Lubricants Centre in Stanlow – the country’s only producer of the high grade oils necessary for the defence industry – after Shell announced plans to review the site which would affect over 100 skilled UK jobs. The move is also likely to cause concern among local suppliers putting hundreds more jobs at risk, says Unite.

Andrew Miller, MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, has promised to raise concerns about the future of the British site with UK ministers and the impact this decision will have on local communities and UK skilled jobs.

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Paul Done, Unite senior workplace representative, said: "We will not stand by and let over 100 highly skilled jobs seep out of this area.

"The closure of the Stanlow site will have a devastating impact on workers and their families. There is bound to be a knock on effect to local suppliers and the wider community – putting hundreds more jobs at risk.

"General Motors has made a decision to invest in Vauxhall Ellesmere Port and continue to support the UK market. However, in stark contrast , Shell appears to have decided to leave the UK as far as manufacturing and research and development is concerned. Shell is happy to make huge profits here, but at the same time dispose of all of its UK based manufacturing and research and development operations."

Shell, the global oil giant, which saw its profits soar by 54 per cent to $18.6 billion in 2010, has already sold off its last UK refinery and announced earlier this year that it is to shut its main research and development base at Thornton, Cheshire, as part of plans to shift its operations to Germany by 2014.

(CD/GK)