Sugar strike could affect beet harvest in the East

A strike over pay at British Sugar factories in the east of England could severely disrupt the sugar refining process.

Workers at British Sugar factories in Wissington and Cantley in Norfolk, and Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk have rejected an offer of 3.5% and are holding out for 5%.

The sugar industry employs more than 10,000 people across the east of England in factories, on farms and in haulage companies, and is worth around £800m to the local economy.