Steel Strip

The Teesside Cast Products Plant (TCP) run by Corus, which is owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, will finally be mothballed on Friday - three weeks after the Redcar site was initially planned to shut down.

Local Labour MP Vera Baird said the rising price of steel could give the town’s major employer a future, and she hoped it could swiftly reopen if a buyer was found.

Workers were told on Monday that Friday would be the last day of steel production.

The plant was due to close last month but Corus announced it would carry on working for some more weeks, while raw materials were used up.

The plant had run into trouble early last year after a consortium of buyers, which had committed to buy nearly 80 per cent of the Teesside plant output, terminated the contract.

The owners Tata, have always maintained that lack of demand is the main reason for closure, although ironically they are planning to double steel production in India over the next three years as well as building a new plant in the Netherlands funded by European tax payers.

A further twist in the story, is that not only could Tata benefit in a saving on “carbon allowances” to the tune of £600M over the next three years, but India could gain by selling carbon allowances back to Europe under the carbon trading scheme. The net effect on carbon emissions will be absolutely minimal with steel production simply moving, and not reducing.

Recent history has shown that in the steel industry, selling plants to overseas owners always leads to job losses in the UK, exporting jobs tomorrow, for a “few bucks” today. It’s all part of the de-industrialisation of UK ltd. Successive Governments starting with Thatcher’s conservative government and continued by labour for years have sung from the same song sheet, proclaiming that the service industry is our future. How well they have served us!