Redcar steelworks 'COULD have been saved'
The European Commission have published a report saying the UK government COULD have stepped in to offer state aid support.
A new report by the European Commission says the UK government could have saved Redcar's steelworks with state aid funding.
The SSI plant went into liquidation in October, after the government said they couldn't bail the company out due to EU rules.
In response to a question written by North East Labour MEP Jude Kirton-Darling, the Commission offered a number of reasons when the government can step in.
Other European countries like Italy and Germany have bailed out their steelworks and have supported them through drops in steel prices.
Thousands of people in the region are now out of work.
Jude Kirton-Darling said “This response from the Commission shows what we’ve known all along, that the UK Government has used European state aid rules as an excuse for doing nothing to support the steel industry.
"The steel industry is important in its own right but is key to our wider manufacturing sector.
"It provides high skilled and well paid jobs and as we’ve seen in Redcar the loss of a plant has a massive impact on the regional economy."
MP for Middlesbrough and East Cleveland, Tom Blenkinsop, said: "I shows a prevailing attitude of not wanting to care, not wanting to listen, and finally when something does happen they panic.
"And that panic still hasn't seen anything happen yet."