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The passport office in Newport is set to close with the loss of 300 jobs.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said the move would have a "devastating" impact on the local economy.

There are also fears passport interview offices in Swansea, Wrexham, Newport and Aberystwyth could close.

The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) confirmed it was consulting on closing the Newport office.

The PCS union said: "The closure of the Newport office will leave Wales with a vastly inferior service to the rest of the UK. It will devastate the local economy and lead to untold hardship for those who lose their jobs. There is no excuse for this - PCS believes that ordinary working people in south Wales should not be made to pay for the crisis and that the government should invest in jobs rather than attack jobs and services."

The passport office at Newport opened in 1967. It is one of seven passport offices in the UK but the only one believed to be closing. The others are at London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Belfast, Durham and Peterborough.

Newport provides passport facilities to customers from all of Wales and much of the south and south west of England.

There are also unconfirmed plans to close a number of the offices around the UK in which passport interviews are held.

The PCS said closing such offices would "decimate" the service and increase the risk of fraud.

Mark Serwotka, the General Secretary of PCS, added: "We condemn this deplorable announcement. We pledge to support the members affected and will campaign vigorously to reverse this outrageous decision."

IPS will still have physical locations in Wales and continue to provide a service in Welsh, including applications in Welsh and correspondence in Welsh.

It said the changes were necessary to reduce the size of the organisation and ensure it is more efficient.

IPS chief executive Sarah Rapson said: "It is never pleasant to implement changes which means jobs are lost, but IPS is taking these steps to ensure it makes the best possible use of taxpayers' money. It is with great regret and reluctance that we are consulting on closing our Newport office. But by improving efficiency in the passport application processing network, IPS can be smaller and still deliver good customer service and a secure, internationally respected passport without additional funding from the taxpayer."

The IPS said its analysis had found that closing Newport would result in "the greatest reduction of spare capacity at the lowest cost to the taxpayer".

A spokesperson said the service is working with the Wales Office to try to minimise the impact on the region.

A Welsh Assembly Government spokesperson said: "This is extremely disappointing news and we urge the Home Office to reconsider this decision. These 250 jobs make a significant contribution to the economy of Newport and south east Wales and this will be a desperately worrying time for the workers and their families."

Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said she was extremely disappointed at "the irresponsible way" the PCS had released details before managers at the passport office had been able to fully inform staff. She said: "This is a consultation process and no final decision has yet been made on the future of the office. I have been lobbying the Home Office on behalf of the workforce in Newport and, indeed, will be raising the matter with the Home Secretary when we meet this evening."

There are more than 30,000 civil servants in Wales. That includes the DVLA in Swansea where more than 5,000 people work and the Office of National Statistics in Newport where 1,500 people are employed.

Newport passport office axe 'not inevitable'

Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan says the closure of the passport office in Newport is not inevitable. She said no decision had yet been taken and that she was lobbying ministerial colleagues and meeting the head of the passport service next week.

First Minister Carwyn Jones is to write to the prime minister, claiming the UK government has "lost the plot".

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said the closure, with 300 job losses, would be "devastating".

Ms Gillan has condemned the union for the "irresponsible" way she said it revealed details on Friday of the threatened closure, but said she could not rule out job losses at the office. Speaking on the Politics Show Wales, she said: "The Identity and Passport [Service] is looking at their operations right across the board and I understand they will be starting a period of formal consultation about the Newport office on 19 October. No decisions have been taken yet and that is why I've invited the chief executive to a meeting in my office next week. I was already talking to ministers when this news came out sadly on a Friday afternoon - I don't think that is really a very good time for people and families to learn about the proposed talks. I'm not going to say there are not going to be cuts to jobs in Wales, because that has been acknowledged right across the board."

Ms Gillan dismissed claims that Wales would suffer disproportionately from any coalition government cuts. She said: "Wales is not being singled out and I will fight for every single job in Wales, whether it's in the public sector or the private sector."

The passport office at Newport opened in 1967. It is one of seven regional passport offices in the UK but the only one believed to be closing.

The Labour Party in Wales has called the doubt over the office's future a "dangerous precedent for things to come" for the more than 30,000 civil servants in Wales.

Carwyn Jones has said the announcement had come "completely out of the blue" and that "the way that this has been handled, frankly, is unbelievable". He said there was no economic argument to close the Wales passport office which also serves people in the west of England.

The Identity and Passport Service said its system currently had too much capacity which could only be resolved by closing a regional passport centre.

It said analysis had found that closing Newport would result in the greatest reduction of spare capacity at the lowest cost to the taxpayer.