Local News

The area's MP's have been reacting to the news that the Redcar Steelworks is to be mothballed.

Redcar MP Anna Turley has said the news is "heartbreaking" and "a massive hammer blow" and she's accused the Government of driving SSI "off a cliff."

“My heart goes out to the 1,700 workers and their families who have lost their jobs today. It is devastating news after the fight over the past few years and recent weeks and days to keep steelmaking on Teesside.

It is now the government’s duty to step in and secure our steelworks, preserving the integrity of blast furnace so that steelmaking is not gone for good. The plant is national asset and must be rescued and protected. Wages and pensions must be paid and suppliers must be underwritten. The industrial marvel that is Redcar blast furnace cannot simply be allowed to fall over.

Over 150 years of toil and endeavour in forging steel in the heat and the light, has come down to few days of desperate fighting. The people of Teesside have shown their commitment to our steelworks and the government must now do the same.”

Tom Blenkinsop, Labour MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Steel, said: “My first thoughts are with the 1,700 workers, and their families, who have lost their jobs today. The steel industry on Teesside has proved it’s resilience in the past, but the Government must now step in to ensure that any mothball process is done properly to safeguard against any shortfalls which SSI may have and to ensure the site is in a suitable condition to be used again.

As the Prime Minister said, in a response to my question, the Government must “do everything [it] can to keep steelmaking in Redcar” now is the time to prove that those words were more than an empty promise. I fear that local management have had their hands tied by the executive of SSI in Thailand, and the UK government must ensure that this is not the case. These redundancies are a huge blow but we’ve fought back from this position before. It is clear from all of the support over the last week: the vigil, the huge banner at the Boro match, local business putting up the ‘Save Our Steel’ posters, that the area will fight back to ensure steelmaking has a future on Teesside.”

A special emergency debate on the announcement will be taking place at the Labour Conference in Brighton today at 2.20pm.

Zoe Burey from Redcar, the founder of Facebook page Save Redcar Steel, which has over 16,000 likes and who organised the SOS Rally on Majuba Rd car park last Thursday wrote: "I'm aware of the announcement and I'm absolutely gutted - I'm so sorry everyone."

Meanwhile, social media has been awash with comments regarding the announcement and reaction to the MP's statements, with a real difference of opinion as to whether the Government should be putting money into a business that was making losses anyway.