A petition of tens out thousands of signatures is being presented to the House of Commons over the proposed closure of the McVitie’s biscuit factory in the east End.

The factory owners, Pladis, are planning to shut the factory with the loss of hundreds of jobs and a wider blow to the economy in the area.

There has been anger and widespread opposition to the closure among not only the workers but communities across the east of the city and politicians across parties.

David Linden, Glasgow East SNP MP, has taken the workers case to the House of Commons and has presented the petition to the UK parliament.

He said he hoped to bring the issue to the attention of the UK government and also to let the owners know that their decision is

David linden said: “Since the news broke that McVitie’s plan to close the factory in Tollcross, people haven’t been shy in making their opposition known.

“The groundswell of support for keeping these jobs in the east End has been heartening and the petition organised by workers at the factory is currently sitting at over 52,000 signatures, a staggering amount in such a short space of time.

“By presenting the petition in Parliament in support of the McVitie’s workers, I hope to catch the attention not only of the UK government but of McVitie’s owner Pladis and show them the public are not happy with their proposed withdrawal from Scotland despite almost two centuries of shared history.

“The closure of the factory could have devastating consequences and the message is clear; don’t take the biscuit.”

There are 500 jobs at risk if the owners go ahead with their plan to shut the site and move out production of Scotland.

Union leaders have said that Pladis could move the operation to a new factory to a greenfield site nearby and retain the jobs.

The GMB union said the Tollcross site, which has provided work for generations of people in the area, has been starved of investment for years by Pladis.

The Glasgow Times reported this month how the union was exploring the options that could save the jobs

David Hume, McVitie’s organiser for the union, said; “We are exploring re-fitting and re-tooling the current site and also looking at the possibility of moving to a new site nearby.

“There isn’t a shortage of land in the area and a new factory wouldn’t necessarily have to be huge. “We have had two meetings with the company and we urge them to work with the action group to keep these jobs here.”

Local MSP John Mason also said that the east end had to compete with towns and cities in the north of England for the jobs and that any support being offered from the public purse in these places had to be matched in Glasgow