Petition urges rethink on Forgemasters loan

In three hours on Saturday they gathered 1,300 signatures outside Sheffield Town Hall.

They have directed their anger at Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, saying the Liberal Democrat Sheffield Hallam MP had not fought for the city.

The Government has said the Forgemasters loan – to fund a giant press which promised to turn the firm into a leading manufacturer of components for new nuclear power stations – was being pulled because the money should be raised privately rather than from the public purse.

Signatures will be collected in Sheffield every day this week before being handed to Mr Clegg.

The Labour MP for Sheffield Central, Paul Blomfield, said: "People are very angry about the Forgemasters loan being scrapped and the huge amount of support we got today reflects that.

"People were queuing to sign the petition and register their strong opposition to this disastrous decision by Nick Clegg and his Conservative partners."

Labour colleague Clive Betts, MP for Sheffield South East, added: "Scrapping the loan to Forgemasters is madness and people in Sheffield know that.

"The loan would have created jobs and the Government would have got the money back with interest. It's not too late for the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to listen to the people of Sheffield and think again."

Labour's Shadow Business Secretary Pat McFadden said the coalition Government appeared to be opting for a strategy of cuts with no coherent plan for growth or the future of industry.

Writing in today's Yorkshire Post, Mr McFadden says: "The expansion plans at Sheffield Forgemaster represented a 21st century opportunity to seize the advantage in the growing area of civil nuclear power.

"Forget phoney allegations about a pre-election bribe or the project being paid for with money the outgoing Government didn't have – this project took two years to negotiate and it was for a loan, not a grant.

"Under the terms of the deal 40m in private sector funds from leading American nuclear power station manufacturer Westinghouse would have been put in and Forgemasters would have had to repay the loan to the taxpayer with interest. The project had been extensively examined by civil servants and approved by the Treasury."