WORKERS planning to strike over the closure of a Widnes tax office have been warned their action will be futile.

More than 700 jobs are threatened at offices in Merseyside and Cheshire.

But Dawn Primarolo, the Paymaster-General, accused opponents of plans to axe up to 200 HM Revenue and Customs offices nationwide of being blind to modern reality.

The closure programme was necessary to save taxpayers' money, Ms Primarolo said.

Those taxpayers increasingly wanted to e-mail rather than write letters, which could be met at a smaller number of inquiry centres.

Ms Primarolo said: 'You cannot have your cake and eat it.

'One cannot say that one wants a tax administration system to be efficient then say 'but not in my constituency'.'

HMRC employs 6,100 people spread across an office in Widnes, eight in Liverpool, three in Birkenhead, two in Bootle,onein StHelensandone in Chester. That number is to fall to 5,400 by 2008.

HMRC is half-way through a programme to cut 12,500 jobs and save £30m by 2008 and two weeks ago said it intended to shed another 12,500 jobs by 2011.

The Public and Commercial Services Unionhasbrandedthe closure programme 'foolhardy', insisting it will undermine the ability of the Exchequer to collect tax revenues.

It pointed to a backlog of 1m items of post, including tax returns, tax codes, tax credit repayments and P45s.