General Chat

Unless you live up here, you've no idea of the devastation that the closure of Corus Steelworks will cause.

Tata (the owners) never had any intentions of keeping this site open no matter what was put forward: the decision to close Redcar was made at the top level of Tata. They now have Redcar's Carbon Credits and will use these to justify building another steel centre in India.

And the reason its not on the national news is because its happening in the North East. If Corus had been a bank, it'd have been injected with millions of pounds of taxpayer 's cash.

Added to which, the ignorance of Ruth Leah the "economist" on last night's Question Time was breathtaking.

And then, to add insult to injury, we're going to be given £60m to help us "recover". How is that to be achieved? Retraining, apparently. The big question around here is - for what? THERE ARE NO JOBS. Examples - local cafe asks for counter assistant - 170 applicants in 24 hours(!) - 10% of shops in High Street are boarded up and 3 more are close soon.

So, forgive me if I don't give a flying whatever about who sleeps with who in Government - nothing short of the government actually buying the site and re-nationalising it will save it. (or perhaps it should never have been "taken into private ownership" (for which read, given away) in the first place.)

Sue (with her serious face on)








Sue x

I'm sorry, Sue. I love Redcar. We visit often when we're in the UK as it's not far from OH's birthplace.

Sue xx

Sue, it has been all over the news this week...and was discussed on question time last night.

I only hope something can be done, we don't want repeats of Corby or Port Talbot...

I know it was, Teresa - I mentioned the "wisdom" of Ruth Leah in what I said.

Talk about an educated idiot.....

Sue x

Sorry Sue, missed that line.

I don't think too much of her anyway, wasn't impressed last week when she was on BBC Breakfast.

i have friends and family affected by this :(:(:( xxx

Well, no doubt the Institute of Directors will be happy - she was their head of policy. Which says all you need to know.

Sue x

Hi Sue

I didn't realise we were such close neighbours :)))

You are so right. This place is now dead in the water. The High Street is a ghost town, and those shops that are not boarded up are either Pound Shops or Charity shops. There are very few chain stores.

The knock on effect is going to be tremendous, and yet they want to spend millions on the prom with a "vertical pier". What's that all about then??? There will be no visitors to see it. Who in their right minds would want to visit a dead hole like this now. Redcar used to be a lovely place, buzzing. But not any more.

The North East is always the first to feel the effects of things like recession and the last to recover - and that is without one of it's major employers vanishing. I remember 25 per cent unemployment around here not that long ago, and here we go again.

What hope is there for our future generations I ask you.

Dianne xx

Very very sad Suzian,what a blow!! and Mandelson saying they're going to 'mothball the plant' is ludicrous, recovery has never happened to any other steel works closure.

I also thought putting Tiger Woods apologies on the main news isn't exactly what this country wants to hear at the moment is it? who's worried about him and his sordid affairs!

hi

its been on the news all week down here ( portsmouth ) along with kraft moving the main production form cadbury birmingham abroad, sign of the times its all done cheaper abroad. sod the workers.

we lost all our industry in the 80's our local dockyard in 1945 employed 20,000 now its a few hundred.



There has been no investment in our town centre despite it being one the most deprived and overcrowed in the country,

Hi Dianne

I watched this when Consett Steel Works closed, and ...... here we go, again.

This whole thing is so wrong.

You could, perhaps, have argued that the mines were economically uncompetitive, but you can't argue that with Corus. The one and only reason it's being "mothballed" is because the current owners don't want competition for their new venture. That's why they won't sell. They want the plant to disappear, which of course it will as soon as it cools down. No chance of "mothballing".

I for one have unstintingly given the Labour Party my vote - it's time for them to step up to the mark and repay the loyalty we've shown them.

Sue x

Youre right, Lorraine

Who would put any trust in Kraft after their lies?

Why am I not surprised?

sue x

I'm never buying a toblerone again! lol

it is so sad to see all our industry disappearing though my dad is from shropshire and most of his family from the black country and the industry especially the car industry up there has all but gone.

we had a wind farm factory on the isle of wight that was closed down last year despite the government saying we should be looking for more eco friendly methods of producing energy.

The government wouldnt step in and help them either and the factory has been mothballed, a small place like the IOW needs industry to sustain its inhabitants.

I too have always voted labour my grandfather was a labour party member and my uncle a local councillor. But this labour pary is not the one I voted for, but the option of smarmy cameron is frightening.