Marks and Spencer has denied that its withdrawal from mainland Europe has run into trouble after plans to close its French stores were suspended by a French court. "The closure of our stores in Europe was never intended to be immediate," said a spokesman. He added: "The plan has been to have them closed by the end of the year and this still looks set to happen." The court ruled that M&S had contravened an EU law which covers mainland Europe but not the UK, requiring employers to consult employees on any major business plans, including large numbers of redundancies. {{NEWS }}