North East MPs' report criticises Corus mothballing
I've just been catching up with the %3Ca%20href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmneast/279/27902.htm">North East Regional Committee's report into the mothballing of the Corus steelworks in Redcar.
Before you accuse me of laxness, I should say I had a day off yesterday. Shocking I know, but if it's any compensation to you it was dominated by my cat having eight teeth extracted. (I told her to brush her teeth, but would she listen?)
It's very critical of Corus. Its focus is very much on pressuring the company to prove its serious about this being a mothballing of the blast furnace rather than a closure (or a prelude to closure).
%3Ca%20href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmneast/279/27904.htm">The report says there must be adequate staff left on site to make sure the furnace can be fired up again by anyone who may buy the plant.
It also says everything should be done to make sure the highly-skilled steelworkers can return to their jobs should it start working again, though obviously the longer the mothballing the less likely that is.
Criticism of the Government is more muted though. And in the interests of transparency I should point out that this is a committee %3Ca%20href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_East_Regional_Select_Committee">made up entirely of Labour MPs as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are boycotting regional committees.
%3Ca%20href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmneast/279/27904.htm">It praises the Government for responding quickly to the mothballing announcement. But the committee does take issue with Lord Mandelson's decision to rule out a wage subsidy.
According to the report, ministers believe that any subsidy would not achieve its objective as they do "not believe it would be money well spent or that there would be a net benefit to the Exchequer."
%3Ca%20href="%3Ca%20href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmneast/279/27904.htm#a10">"That's rejected by the Committee, who say the Government should consider subsidy as an option to help any new buyer that comes along.
But despite the committee chair %3Ca%20href="/blogs/richardmoss/2010/02/labour_mp_accuses_ministers_of.html">Dari Taylor's recent criticism of the Government for not stepping in and nationalising the steelworks, there's no mention of the n-word.
And although the Committee are keen to say they think there is a future for the steelworks, they also %3Ca%20href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmneast/279/27904.htm">call for the Government to make Teesside one of the pilot areas for carbon capture and storage to offer the hope of new jobs.
The most worrying reading for Corus workers though %3Ca%20href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmneast/279/27904.htm">relates to something that happened eight years ago.
That was when the company decided to close its rolling mill in Teesside.
That means the firm can only produce slab steel - for which there's limited demand. The mill would have allowed them to convert that slab steel into more marketable products.
The unions and local politicians warned in 2002 that the loss of the rolling mill could jeopardise the future of the whole site. Sadly, they seem to have been proved right.
I'm Richard Moss, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show.
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