Firestone defended the pledge, made before the take-over earlier this month, stating that it was made in good faith.

He added that output initially was expected to be sufficient to sustain the factory.

But on finding that Cadbury had already spent millions of pounds establishing a factory in Poland, Kraft felt it was impossible to keep the Somerdale plant open.

Furthermore he blamed a lack of communication between the two companies during the hostile take-over for leading Kraft to believe it could make the promise.

Unions and politicians have accused the US multi-national of misleading employees and complaints have since been made to the City's takeover panel who is responsible for takeovers and mergers.

Kraft has said there will be no further UK closures or compulsory redundancies for two years.