Forging ahead

FOR decades, Yorkshire has been forced to live off scraps from the Government – something that the new coalition has promised to end. Now Ministers must back up their words by honouring Whitehall's funding commitment to Sheffield Forgemasters.

If anywhere in the country should benefit from the new coalition, then the Steel City should be top of the list, with Sheffield Hallam MP Nick Clegg the new Deputy Prime Minister.

The city's other MPs are quite rightly piling pressure on the new leadership to stand by a pledge to loan the company 80m – a move that would fund a giant new forging press and see the company become a world leader in the manufacturing of parts for a new generation of nuclear power stations.

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Should such an important promise be broken, it would certainly turn the spotlight on all of the remaining deals Gordon Brown rushed through in the final days of power – agreements described by the new Business Secretary Vince Cable as "variable in quality" and granted "in

a hurry".

However, the Forgemasters deal was not rushed. It was backed by a strong business argument and was the subject of rigorous scrutiny.

It is clear all decisions on public spending now have to be made under the shadow of reducing the country's deficit. Businesses across the region recognise this.

Companies also know, however, that sound investments are the key to securing a strong recovery. With the potential return in jobs and manufacturing that the Forgemasters deal would provide, this is not the time for the coalition Government to turn its back on Yorkshire.

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