A union chief fears hundreds of Bradford textile workers could lose their jobs because of a Marks & Spencer decision to buy clothes overseas.

Peter Booth, national secretary of the Bradford-based Textile Group of the Transport & General Workers' Union, said the M&S decision would put thousands of West Yorkshire textile workers out of work.

He said: "Main Bradford cloth producers, such as S Jerome, Drummond and Parkland, will all be hit by the M&S decision. Much of their output is for clothing producers for M&S such as Dewhirsts, Bairds, Coats Vyella and S R Gents."

Marks & Spencer, once known for its Buy British policy, has told its 15 top clothing suppliers that it cannot afford to pay their prices for clothes and they will have to produce more garments abroad - where labour costs are lower.

Mr Booth said: "There are 10,600 textile workers in Bradford and 39,000 in West Yorkshire and many of these jobs will go because the clothing suppliers will no longer want cloth made in this area.

"This is extremely serious for the textile industry as it comes after exporters have already been hit by the strong pound and high interest rates."

But Stefan Simmonds, chairman of Drummond Group, which is left with 500 workers after making 120 redundant this year, denied the M&S decision would have as great an effect on his company as Mr Booth said.

He said: "We cannot say exactly what effect the Marks & Spencer decision will have but we know that the hi-tech high quality cloth we make, which goes into M&S clothes, cannot be made outside Europe.

"I cannot give a guarantee that there will be no more redundancies, but what is happening is only an acceleration of what has been going on for some time."

John Lambert, director of the Bradford-based Confederation of British Wool Textiles, said: "It is extremely regrettable that Marks & Spencer is taking this view. I hope local bosses will be able to demonstrate to M&S that it is in their interests to continue sourcing fabrics in the UK."

A spokesman for Marks & Spencer said: "We need to look at the most profitable way to run the business and the customer is only prepared to pay a certain price. We simply cannot pass on cost increases to our customers."

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