THE new Archbishop of York has spoken out against the loss of chocolate jobs from York to the Continent.

And he said he would buy KitKats to show his support for York's remaining major chocolate manufacturer, Nestl Rowntree.

Dr John Sentamu's palace at Bishopthorpe is just down the road from the Terry's factory, which closed down earlier this year with the loss of more than 300 jobs.

An Evening Press campaign to save Terry's was backed by thousands of readers, who wanted to maintain a York confectionery tradition going back more than 200 years.

But it failed to persuade the American owners, Kraft Foods, and the site is now up for sale, with famous York products such as Chocolate Orange and All Gold made in countries such as Poland and Sweden.

York's other chocolate manufacturer, Nestl Rowntree, has also been hit by rumours that manufacturing may switch abroad, with the loss of hundreds of jobs - although the rumours have been dismissed by the company.

Earlier this week, a national newspaper claimed production of KitKats and Smarties could shift from York to the Czech Republic, with the loss of 1,600 York jobs, because of rising pension costs.

Nestl denied this, but did warn that any UK manufacturing jobs would be at risk of moving abroad if the bill for paying into Britain's new Pension Protection Fund pushes labour costs too high.

While Bishop of Birmingham, Dr Sentamu threw himself into the campaign to save Rover jobs at the Longbridge plant, even buying himself a Rover to show solidarity with the workers.

Asked if he would now be buying KitKats to support Nestl Rowntree, he said: "Yes, why not, why not?

"I really genuinely think that the strength of a nation also depends on its manufacturing ability. And when all the manufacturing begins to go, what actually goes are jobs - people's jobs.

"People's livelihoods are being exported and, in the end, we are buying in a lot of chocolate and a lot of other things."

The Archbishop said he believed work was a "good thing for everybody", and for people to lose their livelihood was awful -"so we have to try and make sure that our industries don't just disappear".

Updated: 09:50 Friday, December 02, 2005