UK government slaughtered as Corus closes steel plant
The chief executive of steel giant Corus tonight slaughtered the UK government after the announcement that the company was being forced to mothball the vast majority of its Teeside Cast Products plant with the loss of 1700 jobs. The company had been in talks with a potential white knight but this consortium collapsed at the last minute leaving Corus with no alternative but to close down the vast majority of the Teeside based operation.
In reality the steel sector has been under pressure for some time as the worldwide economic downturn continues to kick in, creating a larger and larger impact in areas such as steel production. The company believes that the UK government could have stepped in with assistance, even though direct financial assistance would have been difficult under EU regulations, and has lambasted the government's handling of the situation.
Gordon Brown has enjoyed one of his better weeks although this is a nightmare end to this period and something which the Conservative party has already seized upon. It was also revealed that the manufacturing industry now accounts for just 11% of UK economic output compared to 22.5% when Labour came to power in 1997.
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