Does Kraft apology over Bristol Cadbury's factory convince you?

Kraft is "terribly sorry" for raising then dashing the hopes of hundreds of Cadbury workers at Keynsham, its vice-president insisted yesterday.

But the apology cut little ice with members of a powerful House of Commons committee that had summoned directors before it to explain why pledges had been made to keep the Somerdale plant open.

They accused the American firm of misleading workers, the British public and the Government in an attempt to secure support for the hostile takeover of the historic chocolate company and believe the company will now be investigated for making the claims.

Marc Firestone, executive vice-president of Kraft, insisted his firm had issued a statement it believed it could halt closure plans "in good faith" and with "sincerity".

He told MPs: "We are sorry to the people who we disappointed. We fully understand that for over two years colleagues at Somerdale had been under a closure programme and our statement created uncertainty, and when we announced we would not take it forward, hopes were dashed. We are terribly sorry for that."

As he issued the apology, Amoree Radford, who campaigned to keep the factory open, burst into tears in the public area of the committee room and later left looking distraught.

The US food giant needed a site in Europe to meet its own demand there and believed it could use the Polish plant for that while keeping the Somerdale site running for the British market, Mr Firestone said.

Kraft did not know that from October, the building in Poland was being kitted out with £100million of machinery that could only be used for the specific chocolate products it had been designed for because it was relying on Google and publicly available information, he added.

But the claims were met with incredulity from angry MPs on the Business, Innovation and Skills committee.

Furious MP Roger Berry, who has many constituents employed at Somerdale, accused the company of misleading workers and asked the vice-president if he seriously expected people to believe that a company with Kraft's resources was not capable of finding out exactly what was happening with the transfer of Somerdale's work to Poland.

Angry workers clapped as the Labour MP went on to accuse the company of publishing the statement as a public relations exercise to boost its chances of completing the takeover, which was meeting fierce opposition.

Liberal Democrat Lembit Opik questioned whether anyone had been sacked for coming up with research and a statement about the future of the plant that turned out to be so wrong and was told "no".

Conservative Brian Binley said many people believed Kraft lied about its intentions for the Somerdale plant, saying the firm was fully aware that a new building had been erected by Cadbury in Poland.

"What did you think it was going to be used for – tennis courts?"

Mr Firestone insisted the statement was made on the information they had available and it was only days before the deal was sealed that they began to receive details about what was actually happening with Somerdale and the Polish factory. By the time that had been analysed and a decision taken, it was February 4 – two days after the takeover.

Mr Berry told the Evening Post that the company was in breach of the code of conduct on takeovers and he believed a serious investigation would now be under way by the takeover panel – something Mr Firestone did not deny.

"The takeover panel will not confirm or deny an investigation is taking place but I would be surprised if they are not carrying one out.

"Under the code a company is required to go public immediately when it information that it has made a misleading statement. Kraft has failed to do so."

He said: "The idea that Kraft has spent £12bn buying Cadbury but it was unable to find out the information it needed on Somerdale and Poland is ridiculous. If they really did not know they shouldn't have made the statement. They have either misled or they are incompetent."

Andy Nicholls, 57, a union convener at Somerdale, has worked at the factory for 37 years and watched the committee yesterday.

He said: "None of what has been said is plausible. They just wanted to curry favour for the takeover.

"We had accepted that our jobs were going but they raised our hopes, we felt there was a chance. It was like being made redundant all over again when they turned back on that."