Endgame for Scottish steel after hope of rescue fades
ALL but a handful of jobs at Scotland’s last major steelworks will go after the SNP Government came up with a rescue package of only £195,000.
The money – which pales compared to the £6million the UK Government invested in Scunthorpe, home to Tata Steel’s other mothballed plant – will safeguard key roles in the hope that a buyer can still be found.
But union sources admitted there is ‘no knight in shining armour’ on the horizon and the future looks bleak for the Dalzell and Clydebridge sites in Lanarkshire, which previously employed 270 staff.
Business Minister Fergus Ewing said he hopes to meet Greybull Capital within weeks, after the investment firm run by brothers Marc and Nathaniel Meyohas signed a letter of intent to buy a number of Tata plants for around £400million.
Mr Ewing insisted he had already held ‘positive discussions’ with Greybull Capital. However, the company’s negotiations with Tata Steel are understood to have centred on the Scunthorpe mill in Lincolnshire – which has 3,250 staff – as well as sites in Teesside, Cumbria, York and France.
A company spokesman would not be drawn on the future of the Lanarkshire plants.
Nicola Sturgeon promised to leave ‘no stone unturned’ in her bid to save the Scots jobs.
But she was accused of hypocrisy earlier this week after the Scottish Daily Mail revealed she did not raise steel industry issues in public talks with politicians and business leaders during a high-profile visit last year to China, which is accused of dumping cheap steel on the market.
When the UK Government and Tata Steel combined to invest £9million in regenerating Scunthorpe, following job losses, SNP ministers said they would not offer a similar rescue package in Lanarkshire because they still hoped to find a buyer for the sites.
‘As First Minister, I am not prepared to let our steel industry die without a fight’, Miss Sturgeon said at the time.
Yesterday, Community, the steelworkers’ union, warned that the Scottish Government risked breaking its promise.
A spokesman said the ‘limited package’ would not save the steelworks adding: ‘The Scottish Government has promised to protect the future of Scottish steelmaking. They must now make good on that
‘A complacent response’
promise and work to secure a new commercial operator for Dalzell and Clydebridge.’
The Scottish Government declined to say how many jobs would be saved through its package or for how long.
Mr Ewing said it was critical for any buyer seeking to restart production at Dalzell and Clydebridge to be able to get the mothballed plants up and running again quickly.
‘So we have agreed to work with the existing management and trade unions to retain and develop the nucleus of a manufacturing team.’
He added that he would meet Greybull in the next few weeks to discuss the future of the Scottish plants.
James Kelly, Labour MSP and a member of the taskforce set up to save the Tata Steel jobs, said: ‘A more substantial support package is needed to attract a potential buyer.
‘It is also not good enough to say that a meeting will take place with Greybull in the next few weeks. That meeting needs to take place next week.
‘The workers deserve a greater sense of urgency rather than a complacent response from the SNP Government.’