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.
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SSI’s United Kingdom business director Cornelius Louwrens commented: “This is an extremely sad day for all of us at SSI United Kingdom, and in particular our employees and their families.
Market conditions this year have been extremely challenging and unfortunately this has led to the decision we are announcing today”.
The new leader said: “Whilst the company has said it will mothball the plant and lay the workers off, David Cameron can still, at the 12th hour, step in and defend these people”. He stated: “All that will be left operating will be the coke ovens unless the United Kingdom government steps in even at this stage”.
“We had a backbench debate last Thursday that called for a steel summit and the Minister, Anna Soubry, in her response said the Government would convene one”.
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He said: “An industry which has made a loss over each of the last three years would pass that responsibility to the tax payer”.
Thousands more jobs supported by the Redcar plant on Teesside could also be in danger after the decision to close the site.
British unions say that if SSI United Kingdom fails it could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds in redundancy and clean-up costs.
“The Government has a clear opportunity here to show it believes in the future of United Kingdom industry”.
Community general secretary Roy Rickhuss insisted: “Steel-making on Teesside must have a future and our fight to save our steel industry will continue”.
Unions reacted to the announcement with disappointment, blaming the government for not providing enough support to the struggling sector.
The Guardian quotes Tom Blenkinsop, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on steel as saying that China is pouring steel into the European and world market “for any currency it can get”.
“The problems that the United Kingdom steel industry faces have been known for a few time now and there is much the Government could do to help the industry, but instead they choose to make token efforts and effectively sit on their hands, while the United Kingdom steel industry slowly disappears”.
Stace urged Ministers to get behind British steel and deliver urgently needed support.
SSI bought the Redcar plant from Tata Steel in 2011, bringing cheer to locals as it revived 160 years of steelmaking.
“Failure to do so would mark a tipping point for this vital industry”.
Speaking outside the Redcar plant, the 56-year-old said: “I’m angry and it’s because we’ve been let down, it’s the North East of England being let down again”.
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“What we’ll do after that I do not know”. “Then I had to go off and tell the lads”. Instead it’s not prepared to stand up to the dumping policies of other Governments, particularly the Chinese Government, on steel around the world.
