Family business Fermark, in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, had made underwear for the department store for 30 years.

The job losses at Fermark are the latest in a series of redundancies at major companies in the eastern region.

Robert Badland of the GMB union said: "This used to be a key manufacturing area and now it's a wasteland."

Tough decision

Last week, there was bad news for workers at companies including Lotus in Norfolk, Midland Meat Packers in Northamptonshire, and Man B&W Diesel in Essex.

On Monday, Stephanie Trigg, who worked at Fermark, said the closure was "very upsetting".

"I thought I'd got this job for the rest of my life and I haven't."

In a statement, Marks and Spencer said it regretted the company's plight.

"The decision not to place any further orders was not taken lightly."