FUTURE OF THE STEEL INDUSTRY

That this House believes the steel industry is fundamentally important to the future of UK manufacturing; further believes that there is an important role for manufacturing in rebalancing the UK economy; notes with concern the steep drop in demand for steel products and the consequent job losses; further notes that these job losses could result in a loss of skilled capacity for the steel industry and that such a skills shortage could restrict considerably the opportunities available for growth for steel when the economic upturn arrives; therefore welcomes the £5 million training package offered by the Government to Corus; and calls on the Government to do all it can to help the industry, including substantially increasing the amount of training support being offered to Corus to improve the skills of its workforce.