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It was called by the Teesside MP Ashok Kumar to raise the plight of the Redcar plant and the 1,700 workers who look like they'll lose their jobs.

If the workforce were looking for any new answers, they'll be disappointed.

Ashok Kumar, Dari Taylor (Stockton South) and Dave Anderson (Blaydon) all pushed for more action, but the Government came out with much the same lines as they have in the past.

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But yet again calls for Government aid for the plant were rebuffed.

The minster said Corus hadn't asked for help, and, in any case, he pointed out it would not be possible under EU state aid rules.

So all he was left to fall back on was the £60 million aid package announced for Teesside.

Although it now appears from the debate that £30 million of that money is far from new, as it has been redicrected from other areas in development agency One North East's budget.

There were some harsh words for Pat McFadden from the Conservatives' Shadow Minister for Teesside, Greg Clark, who said the Government should have got all the interested parties together for a summit, but in all the half hour debate provided little that was new.

And it's unlikely to have soothed the increasingly troubled political waters in Teesside that have seen both Middlesbrough mayor Ray Mallon and football club owner Steve Gibson attack Government inaction.

We'll have to wait for the New Year to see whether that disquiet leads to anyone standing as a steel candidate against any of the area's Labour MPs.

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The deadline passes today for MPs to dispute the attempts to get them to pay back some of their expenses.

Only one of our MPs has so far given details of their dispute with Sir Thomas Legg - the man brought in to look over their claims.

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We have no idea why he was asked to pay it back, but he says attempts to make him pay back £964 for utility bills have been dropped while he's repayed £1,019 he overclaimed in council tax.

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