Philips is closing its last remaining factory in Britain and transferring production to Drachten in Friesland, the company has confirmed.

The plan involves closing the Philips factory in Glemsford in the southern county of Suffolk, with the loss of 430 jobs, in 2020. The factory makes products for babies.

Neil Mesher, chief executive of Philips UK and Ireland, told the East Anglian Daily Times the closure was part of a wider global strategy and would have been made ‘regardless of Brexit’.

The company said earlier that it is reducing its number of manufacturing bases from 50 to 30 as part of its plan to focus on healthcare technology.

As yet it is unclear how many jobs will be transferred to Drachten. Philips currently employs some 2,000 people in the northern town, who make shaving apparatus and develop household products.