MEMBERS of Parliament will today urge the Government to pay the wages of Corus workers while efforts to save steelmaking on Teesside continue.

It is a bold, passionate appeal, coupled with calls for ministers to explore other ideas such as buying a stake in Corus or forcing the company to sell valuable land for other industrial uses.

The MPs argue that the justification for a wage subsidy scheme is that public money will otherwise be “thrown away” on unemployment benefits and lost income tax.

Of course, we fully support the campaign to save Corus jobs on Teesside and welcome the assessment from Tees Valley Unlimited that demand for steel is bouncing back.

If those hopes of an upturn gain realistic momentum, a wage subsidy would make sense, though it would clearly have to be over a fixed term.

But the huge dilemma for the Government is the dangerous precedent that any wage subsidy scheme would set. If the Government pays the wages of Corus workers, it will face demands to do the same every time any major employer faces mass job losses.

MPs serving affected constituencies will demand a Government safety blanket with just as much fervour as the elected members for Teesside.

One weakness in any Government refusal would be that a Corus wage subsidy is already in place in Wales – albeit through the Welsh Assembly – as well as other parts of Europe.

Another would be the inevitable cry that if our Government can bale out the banks, why can’t it bale out manufacturing?

Whatever it decides, the Government will be taking a serious gamble.