A COMPANY was praised for its efforts just months before losing a £50million pound camouflage combat clothing contract -- because it was "difficult to work with".

The revelation, made following an Evening Telegraph investigation using the Freedom of Information Act, has prompted MPs and union leaders to criticise the Ministry of Defence.

Blackburn's Cookson and Clegg lost the contract to a rival firm in Northern Ireland, which is making the combat gear in factories in China.

Documents obtained by the Evening Telegraph reveal officials at the Defence Logistics Organisation, which handles the contract:

l Justified their decision not to award the contract to Cookson and Clegg by claiming the company would be "difficult to work with".

l Praised the company for its hard work in a personal letter just before the tendering process began

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l Claimed Cookson and Clegg did not "instill confidence" despite acknowledging it had "pulled out all the stops" to provide uniforms for British troops before the Gulf War a year earlier

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l Assessed Cooneen Textiles and Watts and Stone, the two companies which merged to win the contract, as in a "healthy" financial position when one was on the way to making a £1.2million loss and the other had a credit limit of just £5,000.

l Knew manufacturing in China was a risk but said it was worth taking because of savings that could be made.

Cookson and Clegg is already taking legal action against the MoD for alleged breach of EC procurement regulations over the decision, which ended its 60 years of MoD work.

The MoD today defended its decision and said tendering procedures were followed.

But Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle, who saw jobs lost in his Chorley constituency at Cookson and Clegg's parent company Pincroft, said: "This will confirm people's worst fears that this was a horrendous decision. It calls into question the validity of the tendering process.

"It seems to me as though the decision had already been taken and then the tendering process was an after thought.

"It has put Lancashire people out of work and at the same time supported a Communist country."

Don Rishton, general secretary of the General Union of Loom Overlookers, said: "This whole situation encapsulates a far wider problem and that is the procurement policies of this Government. There seems to be a certain acceptance in high levels of Government that manufacturing in this country should be allowed to wither in the vine. I find it beyond belief that a £50million contract can be awarded to a company that was making losses."

But a spokesman for the Defence Logisitics Organisation said: "The contract was awarded to Cooneen Watts and Stone as they offered the best value for money in meeting the MoD's requirement, and the best prospect for a partnering relationship over the period of the contract."

Appeal court judges are to decide on Friday whether the MoD's decision should be judicially reviewed, a year after the contract was awarded. If they decide the MoD has a case to answer it could be heard as part of Cookson and Clegg's £10million damages claim in October.