01/06/09 - Senior Conservatives throw their weight behind efforts to save Steelmaking on Teesside

A delegation from the Conservative Party, met with the Chief Executive of Corus, Kirby Adams, to discuss the future of the threatened steel plant at Redcar at the companys headquarters at Millbank, London. The delegation included Ken Clarke Shadow Business Secretary, Greg Clark the Shadow Minister for Teesside, and Paul Bristow the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.

The meeting was arranged following an appeal from Paul Bristow for senior Conservatives to examine what the Government and Corus are doing to save steelmaking on Teesside.

Corus announced last month a consultation on mothballing the Redcar site after an Italian led consortium pulled out of a deal to buy 78% of future Teesside steel slab production. An end to steel production would mean the loss of 2,000 jobs directly and thousands of others that indirectly depend on the plant.

Commenting after the meeting, Paul Bristow stated:

As soon as I heard about the threat to the plant, I briefed both Ken Clarke and Greg Clark who immediately wanted to meet with Corus bosses to see what we could do to help. The loss of the plant would be a crushing blow for Teesside and mean hardship for those losing their jobs and their families.

We are reassured that Corus are doing everything in their power to ensure that the consortium honours its agreement. If the consortium fails to keep the terms it signed up to, it threatens the longstanding tradition of steelmaking on Teesside. We have asked Corus to keep us informed about developments regarding the future of the plant and we stand ready and determined to play our part in securing a viable future for the plant.