REDCAR MP Vera Baird has reacted angrily to the decision to mothball the blast furnace at Corus on Teesside.

"I am absolutely furious, as are Corus, with the consortium," she said. "They are in the middle of a ten year contract and for years they have had cheap, high quality steel from this plant. Until April they were looking at buying the steelworks but now they are trying to walk away after having massive value for years.

"I am furious and requested that they come back to the table and sort this out - they have deserted the workforce. The staff have performed acrobatics for this consortium - working to unusual specifications, tight deadlines and at a really cheap rate.

"Staff have been given 90 days notice but there is a hell of a lot can happen in 90 days. Redcar is a fighting community and has fought to safe the steelworks before.

"It is infuriating that this consortium has turned its back on a highly skilled work force but we will try force them to honour the contract."

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Ashok Kumar said: "This is a stab in the back for the staff by members of this consortium and I am fully supporting Corus resorting to law to fight this.

"However, that is a long process and the job at hand is to see how best we can help to keep the plant open. This needs the co-operation of all the agencies and it is something that I will be raising in Parliament at the earliest opportunity."