Lee Barron pledges his support for UK steelmaking in emergency Parliamentary debate

Corby MP Lee Barron pledges his support for UK steelmaking in emergency Parliamentary debate

Transcript

00:00Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker and I have to say that some of the last

00:05contribution that we had and that we heard frankly should have been made at

00:10the time that the decisions were taking place it shouldn't have waited until

00:13today I can tell you that. Mr Deputy Speaker I want to start off by

00:18commending the Minister in relation to the way in which he has dealt with this

00:22issue the way in which he has got us together today in order for us to

00:26discuss and debate this and I think this idea that somehow we could have

00:31debated our negotiations as we was having them is frankly a little bit for

00:35the birds because what you don't do is debate your negotiating because all

00:39you're doing then is telling who you're negotiating with what it is that you're

00:42going to the negotiating table for. It ain't done like that and nor should it be

00:46done like that and for those that have been moaning the fact that we've been

00:50recalled on a Saturday well all I'll say to you is this from these benches you can

00:55recall me on any Saturday at any time and twice on a Sunday if it means that

01:00we're going to save industries and save thousands and thousands of jobs. I'll be here

01:05every time that we do it because some of us know what it's like. The town of Corby

01:10was literally built on steel. The people of Corby in East North Ants know only too

01:16well what it's like to have its steel works closed down and the devastation that

01:21befalls local communities. When Corby steel works was closed down 14,000 people

01:27lost their jobs and unemployment levels rose to 30 percent. Corby in East North

01:33Ants was once home to the largest steel works in Europe and today it still

01:38employs just shy of 500 people and steel manufactures 250,000 tons per year of

01:46steel tubing. We would not be the place that we are without the steel works that

01:51Corby once had and we know the devastation of the impact these job

01:55losses would mean for the community of Scunthorpe. That is why this is the right

02:01thing to do. It's the right thing to do to ensure that we maintain steel making

02:06capacity in the UK. In these increasingly uncertain times we must maintain national

02:13security by having the ability to produce our own virgin steel. Keep all

02:18keep all options open but don't allow the blast furnaces to switch off because

02:24once they're off they're gone and that's the problem in other parts of the

02:28country that should have been raised at those times. In any modern economy with a

02:33central mission for growth production of our own steel is crucial and will be at

02:37the heart of any future industrial strategy. I'm proud to be here today I'm proud to

02:42support this today and I'm proud to be here to secure a future for steel making

02:47in the UK.