1,700 steel jobs lost: Where’s your Northern Powerhouse now?

Anna Turley, MP for Redcar makes her speech during the second day of the Labour Party conference

SSI blamed the fall in the global price of steel on its decision to mothball its Redcar plant which could also leave contractors out of pocket and put thousands more jobs in the local economy at risk.

The Government was urged to take action on electricity prices and business rates which, it was claimed, is making it harder for British steel to compete with overseas producers.

Critics said the threat to the future of steel production in Redcar exposed the reality beneath Chancellor George Osborne’s claim that the Government is turning the North of England into an economic ‘powerhouse’.

The Teesside Cast Products site in Redcar.

YP Comment: Where is ‘One Nation’ steel?

Wearing a ‘Save our Steel’ T-shirt, Redcar MP Anna Turley told the Labour Party conference: “Redcar is a community whose steel built the modern world. From the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Canary Wharf and Wembley Stadium.

“It now feels at the mercy of that world, powerless to survive in a global market with a Tory government that doesn’t care. There is a future for steel in this country.

“The Government has a clear opportunity here to show it believes in the future of UK industry. If, as it claims, it wants to see a ‘March of the Makers’ and a ‘Northern Powerhouse’, there would be no greater opportunity to demonstrate that than by direct action here on Teesside, stepping in to secure the steelworks.”

The Redcar plant was last mothballed in 2010 by then owner Corus Steel but was bought by Thailand-based SSI the following year and brought back into production in 2012.

Union leaders called for Ministers to ensure the facility is mothballed in a way that could allow a similar rescue in the coming months.

Speaking outside the plant, Eugene Purvis, who has worked for SSI for eight years, said: “Redcar is in a bit of a state at the moment and if this place goes it will get worse, it’ll devastate the area and that’s the problem.

“I’m 56 going on 57, where am I going to get a job?

“I really don’t get the Government who go to China to give them billions of pounds to build a power station and then give them £3m to teach them how to play football, I just don’t get it.”

The decision to stop production in Redcar is the latest blow to the UK steel industry following a series of job losses in recent years.

Business Minister Anna Soubry offered support for workers affected by the decision in Redcar and the local economy but stopped short of promising direct intervention.

“The price of steel has almost halved over the past year, with overproduction in the world market,” she said. “While government cannot alter these conditions, I have called a steel summit to see what more can be done to help our steel industry.”