A Government inquiry into the collapse of a company that caused 127 Lincoln dairy workers to lose their jobs will begin today.

The cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee will attempt to examine how Dairy Farmers of Britain was governed before it went into receivership in June.

The company's demise forced the city's Boultham Park Dairy to close with the loss of 127 employees.

The livelihoods of some county farmers were also threatened by the collapse but they were given a lifeline when another company, Dairy Crest, stepped in and offered them new contracts.

MPs at Westminster will today hear evidence from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the receivers who decided to close the Lincoln dairy.

Officials from the National Farmers' Union will also attend an evidence session planned for next month.

NFU East Midlands spokesman Alison Pratt said the group hoped lessons would be learned from the Dairy Farmers of Britain failure.

The committee also expects to question the government response to the failure of the company, but MPs will not be examining issues surrounding the receivership, which were covered in a report last month by PwC.

That document concluded the co-operative suffered from a flawed business plan, poor management and bad decision-making which gradually eroded its profitability.

For more from the dairy workers, see Wednesday's Echo.