Tate & Lyle Sugars has drummed up support from a group of 20 MEPs to support its legal case against EU sugar laws.

The company is working with the MEPs in a bid to overturn punitive EU tariffs of up to €339 a tonne that it claims were responsible for the 30 job losses at its Silvertown refinery in London, announced last week.

London MEP Syed Kamall said he was working with Tate & Lyle Sugars to gain the support of other refiners in Europe in order to build a coalition to fight its legal case against the EU.

London MEP Marina Yannakoudakis called on the EU to urgently relax the rules on the imports of sugar cane so the refinery in London could return to full capacity.