Redcar is a steel town in the North East of the UK. To say it has been treated shabbily for the last thirty years by successive governments would be the understatement of the century.
Even so, as the magic grandpa found out, the good people of the North East don’t do fairy tales. A set of bribes presented like a stream of cuddly toys on a Generation game conveyor belt did not impress them.
Redcar has had a lot to put up with. Taken for granted by the Labour party and ignored by the Tories it was in many ways politically abandoned and forgotten.
The most crushing abandonment came in 2015. The steel works bereft of any government support, and owned by a foreign steel maker was closed.
Why was there no government support?
The EU rules on state aid prevented it. Which was “convenient” as the government was less than keen anyway.
Even then, it is highly likely that the foreign owner (SSI Steel) had only bought the plant in 2011 to close it down.
Competitors rarely buy plant to run it in competition to themselves. They buy it to first asset strip it then close it. They eliminate a competitor and steal the competitors order book and intellectual property to boot.
For the buyer it is a win-win. Everybody else loses.
Just look at the Kraft takeover of Cadburys, or the BMW takeover of Rover Group if you don’t believe me.
Abandoned by the Tories, ignored by the EU and despised by Labour the good people of Redcar took their revenge in 2016 and voted 70/30 to leave the EU. The shock still resonates through the metropolitan elite to this day.
Then after three years of obfuscation, sabotage and down-right betrayal the anti-brexit parliamentarian elite were forced (against their will) to confront the electorate.
The Redcar electorate put their country first. They voted out the EU appeasing Labour MP and replaced her with a new face. An MP that has said he will put Brexit first and Redcar too.
 |
| Jacob Young the new Tory MP. A man who needs to show he means business in supporting Redcar. |
The people of Redcar have placed their trust in Jacob Young ….. and also in Boris Johnson.
They wait patiently for that trust to be honoured and repaid.
In my humble opinion they deserve to reap the rewards of putting democracy above petty personal interest.
So what should the Tories and Jacob Young do now?
Here’s an idea.
The steel plant was mothballed four years ago. Whether it's production capability is still viable I do not know, but lets assume it, or part of it, is still viable.
Imagine the symbolic significance to the people of Redcar (and the rest of the country too), if on the 1st February (after we have left the EU) Boris Johnson stated his intention to rebuild the steel making capabilities of Redcar.
The people of Redcar deserve more than just a few quid spent on random infrastructure. They deserve to have their industry restored.
A modest investment of a few hundred million quid would not only re-invigorate UK heavy engineering in the North East but would signal an intention that the UK would no longer allow foreign governments or foreign industries to dictate how our people are treated.
The people of Redcar deserve better. In fact they deserve more than better.
Because of them we have our country back.
Now they deserve their steelworks back too.
1 comment:
Just discovered your blog and very much enjoying it. These are the real-life stories which need to be told.
Post a Comment