AN MP has joined efforts to help keep a major employer in Kirklees.
Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik has stepped up efforts to ensure that up to 1,200 jobs at Fox's Biscuits remain in the north Kirklees area.
The biscuit firm has a long history in Batley but earlier this month the firm announced that it wanted to merge the West Yorkshire factory with one in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire.
Kirklees Council has also vowed to do all it can to persuade the firm their future lies in this area.
Mr Malik has been in discussions with the former chair of Northern Foods which is the parent company of Fox’s, Lord Haskins, and has also spoken to Yorkshire Forward's chief executive Tom Riordan and his team about the desperate need to keep the business in the area.
He said: “All options must be looked at and made available to keep the site as local as possible and safeguard those jobs for local people.
“I've made it clear that there could be sites in both Dewsbury and Mirfield which may accommodate the potential super factory and I'm sure that people in the area would like nothing more than helping to protect some 1200 jobs and assist in the possible creation of hundreds more.”
Mr Malik has also been in talks with the union at Fox's, the BF&AWU.
He added: “The key as I see it is in keeping those jobs in the area. Nothing matters more than ensuring that the livelihoods of hundreds of families are secured along with a suitable site, be it in Batley, Dewsbury or Mirfield.”
Mr Malik has also spoken to Kirklees Council’s director of regeneration, Ken Gillespie. Mr Malik said he was very pleased with the commitment of Mr Gillespie and the council.
He said: “We must be prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure Fox’s not just survives but thrives.”
