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Corbyn And Soubry Reply To SSI Mothballing
The leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn has insisted the Government could “quite easily” intervene to save Teesside’s steel making industry.
Mr Corbyn said Britain should follow the example of Italy, where the Government temporarily took over a loss-making steel plant.
He condemned the Government for failing to prevent the loss of 1,700 jobs at SSI in Redcar and urged David Cameron to “step in and defend” workers.
Speaking at his party's first conference in Brighton since becoming leader, he said his party “stands with the people of Teesside fighting for their jobs, their community and their industry”.
SSI announced on Monday it was mothballing the plant for up to five years, citing poor trading conditions and low world steel prices.
Mr Corbyn told party activists at a meeting: “What happened in Redcar, is an example of everything wrong with the economic policies of this government and this country. A major industry with an amazing skill base, an amazing record of producing steel which has made so much in this country, from the Victoria Line to the bridges and all the other things in between, is being closed down.”
He highlighted claims the price of steel had been depressed partly as a result of China dumping cheap steel on the market.
The Governments business Minister Anna Soubry has said: "Despite everyone’s recent efforts to help SSI this is very sad news and a big blow for the workforce and their families. They are the priority and with SSI’s difficulties being no secret, why I had already asked Amanda Skelton, Chief Executive of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, to chair a local taskforce to help support workers and the local economy. I also have concerns about reports that local contractors have gone unpaid.
I hope that SSI’s announcement that they are mothballing the furnace gives some hope that steel making could be restarted on Teesside in the future. The steel industry across the UK is facing very challenging economic conditions. The price of steel has almost halved over the past year, with overproduction in the world market.
While government cannot alter these conditions, I have called a steel summit to see what more can be done to help our steel industry."
