AN MP has demanded to know why a profitable textile firm faces being closed with the loss of all 120 jobs.

Colne Valley MP Kali Mountford has called on the owners of Slaithwaite spinning company Globe Worsted to explain why they put the busy company into administration.

Workers at Globe were told last week that efforts to sell the business as a going concern had failed.

Administrators at Leeds- based insolvency firm Bartfields said they would start making redundancies on December 23.

Administrators continue efforts to find a buyer for Globe sister firm Huddersfield Fine Worsteds, which has 160 workers at Kirkheaton.

But Ms Mountford said: "It is baffling that a company with huge assets, a full order book and profitable business should be taking such apparently unjustified steps which could lead to the loss of 120 jobs."

The Labour MP has written to Globe's Leeds-based owner, Hartley Investment Trust, seeking an explanation of their reasons for putting Globe Worsted into administration.

She said: "This is a firm with an established record of excellence over many, many years.

"Its workers are highly- skilled. It has achieved high productivity and would be an asset to any company."

She added: "Hartley owes the Globe workforce a full explanation for what they are doing.

"The fact that Globe is profitable and has a full order book shows that there is still money to be made from textiles.

"It would be sad to see any company walking away from that."

In a statement at the time, Hartley said administrators had been called in after a breakdown in talks between the group and the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise over payments of previously deferred PAYE and VAT.

Deferral was agreed from 2001 to early 2003 after the group was badly hit during the foot and mouth crisis of 2001.

Hartley said the decision to bring in administrators was based on legal and expert advice.