WORKERS who downed tools at Marchwood Power Station in a dispute about foreign labour say they will not return until Monday.

The 140 contract workers, who walked off the site yesterday morning, said they were due to work straight through the weekend but will be staying away as a protest.

The Marchwood plant is one of several across the country embroiled in a bitter row over the number of foreign workers. The decision to walk out was decided at a meeting at 10am yesterday.

One man, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “This has been coming for a long time and the energy companies have not been listening.

“People tolerated big developments in this country because they thought it was going to mean jobs for British people – I feel as a country we have been betrayed.”

Another said: “Tensions over this issue have been brewing for a long time and lots of workers are worried about the big British contracts going to foreign firms who will either bring in their own people or reduce working conditions across the board.”

A third said: “Only about a fifth of workers on the site are British and that has been causing anger for a long time.

“This is why we have taken this decision and decided to support other workers nationally who have walked out.”

When the £350m Marchwood plant is completed later this year it will generate enough electricity to supply the area of the Southampton, Winchester and the New Forest.

The series of wildcat walkouts were sparked by energy giant Total who opted to import workers from Europe to work on a huge £200m construction project.

Anger over the situation at Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Lincolnshire led to walkouts at sites in Grangemouth, Redcar, Teesside and plants in Scotland and South Wales.

Several hundred demonstrators gathered for a third day outside the Lincolnshire plant following a walk-out by contractors on Wednesday.

A Marchood Power spokesman said: “We have nearly 800 people working on the site at the moment. The majority are British or Irish nationals.

“About 140 of the workforce walked off the site this morning so some of the work on the power station has been interrupted.”

The spokesman added that around 65 per cent of the workforce was British or Irish.