All but one of the eight HMRC employees at the King Street premises faces redundancy after treasury minister Stephen Timms MP announced that all three of the agency's Argyll and Bute offices - in Dunoon and Oban as well as Rothesay - will close for business by the end of the 2010-11 financial year.

Mr Timms told Argyll and Bute MP Alan Reid that plans were in place for only one Rothesay staff member to be redeployed, or to continue to provide face-to-face advice, after the closure.

Reacting to the announcement, Mr Reid said: "These closures mean the loss of valuable jobs in communities with fragile economies. It is the wrong decision in the current economic climate.

"It is increasingly important that small businesses and the public have easy access to tax advice as the recession takes hold. Yet this Government is cutting back on a vital local service."

Plans to close the Rothesay office, along with those in Dunoon and Oban, were first announced in December 2008.