Cadbury workers look to Lord Mandelson as Kraft deal looms

Voting closed at 13:00 and is expected to show around 75 per cent shareholder support for the takeover, well above the required 50 per cent plus one vote.

Cadbury workers, under the direction of Unite union have been lobbying Ministers and MPs today in order to extract guarantees from Kraft that they will protect jobs and investment.

Jack Dromey, Deputy General Secretary of Unite and husband of Deputy Labour Party leader Harriet Harman, said, “Our fear is that the Kraft takeover is not in the national interest, and in the months of this hostile takeover process we have heard nothing from Kraft to calm fears that it is in the interest of the Cadbury workforce either. Instead, the fate of manufacturing workers in Terry's of York, who found that Kraft ownership saw their plant close, weighs heavily on the minds of the Cadbury workforce. Kraft cared little for the great history of that plant or for the skills of its workforce so we must seize the opportunity now to ensure that Cadbury and its workforce do not suffer the same fate.

"Government must secure meaningful pledges from Kraft - and police them so that Kraft cannot again walk away from a UK workforce. Ministers must make it abundantly clear that closures and mass redundancies will not be accepted by the British government or the British people. Kraft needs an unmistakable message that never again can promises made be broken.

Unite may be encouraged to know that Business Secretary Lord Mandelson is expected to meet Irene Rosenfeld, Chief Executive of Kraft, tonight in order to gain assurances on jobs.

By 12:50 shares in Cadbury were up 0.54 per cent to 836.51 pence per share.