BRITISH Sugar must do all it can to help redundant workers if it presses ahead with the closure of its York sugar beet factory.

That was York MP Hugh Bayley's blunt message to the company's corporate affairs director Chris Carter when the pair met at Westminster.

The MP said today: "I told him I expect British Sugar to do everything they can to cut the number of compulsory redundancies, through redeployment where possible, and to help employees find alternative jobs.

"I also said I expect it to act responsibly in disposing of this very large site, and to work with City of York Council and Yorkshire Forward for what is best for York and not just what is most profitable for the company."

The MP said he organised the meeting on Wednesday after the shock announcement earlier this month that the company intended to shut the factory, situated off Boroughbridge Road, by the end of next year.

The closure will mean the loss of more than a hundred permanent jobs and dozens of more seasonal staff, but will also have a devastating impact on about 1,200 sugar beet growers in the Yorkshire area.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said earlier this week he would be happy to meet farmers' leaders to discuss the impact of the closure, although he could not be sure the Government would be able to help.

Following the closure announcement, Mr Bayley said he was very surprised by the decision, as he had been led to believe during previous discussions with management that York, the company's most northerly factory, would be safe from the axe.

He also suggested that York had now been chosen because of the high potential value of the 100-acre site for redevelopment, and said the council should make it clear it would resist any plans to build housing and hotels there. The MP said Mr Carter had denied at their meeting that the selection of York had any connection with its land value, saying it was being closed due to lower yields by beet growers in this region.