EU pulls the plug on Twinings' £10.5m grant

GREEN MEP Keith Taylor has welcomed a decision not to give tea firm Twinings a £10.5 million EU grant pledged to it after it announced plans to relocate from the UK to Poland, resulting in the loss of almost 400 jobs.

AB Foods, which owns the company, plans to open the site in Poland this year and close a plant employing 260 workers in North Shields. More than 100 staff in Andover, Hampshire, are also expected to lose their jobs as the site halves its workforce.

Following the announcement of job losses in November 2009, Twinings claimed the grant would be used to open new state-of-the-art packing facilities rather than relocate existing equipment.

But the European Commission launched a review after accusations that the company's use of the 10.5m breached EU rules.

Critics including Taylor, Green MEP for south-east England, claimed Twinings should give the money back because it was supposed to be used to open new investments rather than relocating existing facilities overseas.

A spokesman for Twinings confirmed that it has now learned it has not met the criteria for the grant.

Taylor described the news as a "victory" for those who had lost their jobs and spoke of his fears of a "loophole" in EU regulations. He said: "I've been challenging this grant for over a year now.

"(The] decision to cancel it is a victory for Twinings staff who've lost their jobs and the campaigners who supported them."