WREXHAM'S MP has welcomed a shadow minister’s visit as a fight to keep tax office jobs in the town continues.

A member of Labour’s frontbench ministerial team is coming to North Wales to discuss the future of hundreds of tax office jobs and back Wrexham MP Ian Lucas's campaign to stop the roles from being moved away from the town.

Staff at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) Wrexham Technology Park site – which is home to a workforce of about 300 – face being relocated to either Liverpool or Cardiff as the Government plans to close the town’s office by 2021.

Mr Lucas has been fighting to keep the jobs in Wrexham and on Wednesday (August 29) he will welcome Labour’s shadow treasury minister Anneliese Dodds MP for a meeting with HMRC employees represented by the PCS union.

Ms Dodds is conducting a review of the impact of HMRC cuts and office closures for the shadow treasury team. The meeting in Wrexham is one of a series across the UK discuss the issue with affected staff and look at how Labour would reverse the policy to benefit our towns.

Mr Lucas said: “The Tory Government likes to see itself as representing market towns, small businesses and local communities. The reality, however, is that its policies are shifting wealth, opportunity and services away from towns to cities.

“They are proposing that more than 300 skilled public sector jobs be moved from Wrexham to regional centres in the North West of England or Cardiff. Not only is this unfair on the workforce, but the importance of Wrexham would be diminished by such a move – and the spending power in our town economy would be reduced. These jobs must be kept in Wrexham.

“I am pleased that Anneliese Dodds is showing her support as the fight to defend these jobs for our community –and others across the UK – continues.”

The UK’s tax authority announced in 2015 that it intended to close 137 local offices and replace them with 13 regional centres. Staff in the Wrexham office have been told they can move to the regional centres in either Liverpool or Cardiff with no North Wales presence for HMRC.

Ms Dodds has already found that there has been a negative impact in towns where local offices have closed, with many staff not able to shift to commuting to their new regional hub. She is also concerned about the impact of the new hub system on customs preparedness, in the light of additional pressures from Brexit.

A report by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee last year also pointed out how the HMRC plans would be damaging to towns like Wrexham.