THE fate of hundreds of jobs at a major Ulverston employer cannot be met by the "vacuum of silence" as a stakeholder summit prepares to meet.

The town's entire community was stunned when earlier this summer GSK announced it was pulling the plug on its £350m biopharmaceutical investment scheme.

This shock announcement scuppered the hundreds of jobs which the development would have brought, as well as casting a shadow over the currently employees at the plant.

Now parliament is back in session, Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock is reconvening a summit at the end of the month to create a strategy for the coming months.

He said: "I know people have been spending the summer exploring what they can do to help our community and potentially find a new buyer for the site."

"This will be an important opportunity for us to share thinking and make a concrete plan for the months ahead."

Representatives of the Unite union say they will be vocal presence for their members at talks, insisting they will hold GSK to account.

Gail Bundy, Unite regional officer, said: "What we don't want is a vacuum of silence to be filled by rumour.

"There is a real worry if a buyer is not found quite quickly, within three to six months it will turn into a worse situation than we were in at the beginning."

Mr Woodcock said the group would work to hold GSK to account, ensuring there would not be a cut and run scenario.

He said: "This is a town that has served Glaxo for many decades, which fought so hard to win an exciting future. We are bitterly disappointed but we are appealing to the good nature and sense of responsibility of this global company that will leave a legacy for the town and future generations."

Lib Dem MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Farron has been invited to attend, however, due to constituency commitments will not be able to.

However, he did say: "I’m hopeful that when the taskforce meets later this month it will be able to come up with a plan which will attract a new buyer who will also agree to secure the investment which GSK had planned for the town."

The summit will meet on Friday September 22.

Read more about how the GSK withdrawal came about:

Alliances are mad as Ulverston prepares for the worst

A taskforce has met for the first time with the goal of saving local jobs

John Woodock has spoken of his hearbreak over GSK's investment u-turn