Burberry checked over move to China

Burberry bosses are to be questioned by a parliamentary committee about plans to axe a UK plant with the loss of 300 jobs.

Campaigners fighting to keep the brand British claim that bosses will be forced to justify sending manufacturing jobs overseas.

Workers at the plant in Treorchy, south Wales, have been told it will shut in March with production transferring to China.

But the announcement last year was immediately condemned, and triggered a high-profile campaign to keep the factory open.

Actor Ioan Gruffudd, the star who played Hornblower in the television series and who grew up in nearby Aberdare, has thrown his weight behind the campaign.

His intervention is all the more embarrassing for the company as he and actress Rachel Weisz were recruited as the brand's global faces in 2005.

Leighton Andrews, the local AM for Rhondda, who has been instrumental in the campaign, said: "We have always believed that the factory is profitable, and this will force Burberry to put figures on the table in public.

"Burberry claims to be a luxury brand with a distinctive British sensibility. Yet here they are seeking to move jobs to China."