EU backtracks on Poland grant for Twinings

The European Union has backtracked on plans to give Twinings a £10.5m regeneration grant to open a plant in Poland after critics complained that the tea company was looking to relocate work there from the UK rather than make a new investment.

Twinings' owner AB Foods plans to open the new £27m site in Poland later this year and close a plant employing 260 workers in North Shields. More than 100 employees in Andover, Hampshire, are also expected to lose their jobs.

Twinings said the grant would have been used to open new state-of-the-art packing facilities rather than relocate existing equipment. The company confirmed that it has now learned it has not met the criteria for the grant.