YORK MPs have written to business secretary Vince Cable in a bid to save one of the city’s biggest employers.

Julian Sturdy, MP for York Outer, and Hugh Bayley, MP for York Central, also wrote to card protection provider CPP’s lending banks RBS, Santander and Barclays yesterday to appeal to them not to withdraw funding from the business.

The company, which employs about 1,000 people in York, suspended its shares last week after it warned proposals from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) would make the company unviable. At the end of last week, the company reached an agreement with the FSA on more “proportionate” action over cases of mis-selling of card and indentity protection products.

But CPP is now in talks with its banks, who are now threatening to pull the plug on its borrowing.

The letter quoted Mr Cable in a radio interview last week, saying in reference to RBS, that current management cannot be accountable for mistakes made in the past and must be allowed to work to improve the business.

It said: “CPP, which like the banks themselves, was accused of mis-selling insurance, has a new management team on board with a genuine desire to offer redress to customers treated unfairly in the past. We are deeply concerned that despite the FSA having found a solution which will allow corrections to be made the banks could yet precipitate the company being forced into administration - a scenario which would result not only in job losses but in past wrongs becoming much more difficult to correct.”

They have urged Mr Cable to raise the matter with the banks at the earliest opportunity to stress the implications for jobs across the UK.

The MPs wrote to the three banks yesterday, saying: “Should CPP be forced into administration over 1,300 jobs would be lost in the UK.

“In light of the ongoing and positive talks between the FSA and CPP, we would strongly urge all involved parties to place the importance of local jobs at the forefront of any discussions with the business. We firmly believe that a balanced and sensitive approach would secure such jobs and enable the organisation to work through its difficulties over the coming weeks and months.”