These images show how Labour is standing up for steel while the Tories are standing idle

Last Updated: March 31, 2016By

If you want to know what’s really happening, go to the social media.

That’s where This Writer found the Daily Mirror’s front page:

160330MirroronSteel

“Betrayed”? That’s a bit strong, isn’t it? Well, no. Look at this image of Business minister Sajid Javid.

160330JavidNOTonSteel

If it looks like he was having a great time, it’s because he wasn’t having anything to do with the crisis over Tata’s plan to sell off its steelmaking works in the UK. He was in Australia at a fancy banquet, giving a speech to the British Chamber of Commerce there.

His absenteeism prompted Ron Moore to tweet: “Chum! The Menials are saying ‘You must have known Wednesday was decision day. If not, why not? So why did you swan off?'”

In Javid’s useless absence, it was up to Anna Soubry, minister for small business, to pick up the slack. It seems, however, that the Conservative Government is so slack that she made the following plea:

160330soubryonSteel

CostOfCameron responded, on Twitter: “Soubry says ‘give us time’? What, like Redcar?”

Fair point, that.

So what was the Labour Party doing?

Well, while David Cameron was still thinking of cutting short his holiday in Lanzarote (or wherever he was), Jeremy Corbyn had already abandoned his and was in Port Talbot with the steelworkers whose jobs are under threat.

“That’s the kind of leadership we need,” tweeted Pauline Lane.

Adrian Morgan added: “Great to see Jeremy Corbyn turn up to support us steelworkers in Port Talbot today. Listened to all.” Here’s the proof:

160330CorbynonSteel0

Mr Corbyn went on to make a few comments of his own, such as this:

160330CorbynonSteel1

He wanted the Conservative Government to nationalise the soon-to-be former Tata steelworks. And why not? There are certainly precedents, as Eoin Clarke pointed out:

“Steel Bailouts by Governments:
“1994 Portugal & Germany
“2012 France
“2014 Italy
“2016 India
“Why does Osborne refuse to save British Steel?”

Some have suggested it could be as simple as this:

160330OsborneonSteel

According to the Daily Telegraph: “Some officials accused Govt of sacrificing steel industry to improve relations with China”:

160330telegraphpoliticsonSteel

The possibility prompted Labour MP John Mann to tweet: “We nationalised two banks to save UK banking. So we should nationalise UK steel. Do we want to be on China’s pocket forever?”

According to Martin Rowson in The Guardian, that’s exactly what Osborne wants:

160330RowsononSteel

Great.

While the Tories have dithered, Jeremy Corbyn launched an e-petition calling on David Cameron to recall Parliament and “protect the steel industry and the core of manufacturing in Britain”.

160330CorbynonSteel2

At the time of writing, this petition – launched yesterday, March 30 – has amassed a staggering 82,544 signatures. By the time you read this, it may have already reached the target of 100,000 necessary to make a debate possible. You can add your own signature – whether the target has been reached or not (the more, the merrier) – just visit the petition’s webpage here.

Judge the Conservatives according to their response.

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5 Comments

  1. Terry Davies March 31, 2016 at 6:15 am - Reply

    the steel industry will be sold off to the chinese companies who build the nuclear power station.
    the writing is on the wall for the government to con the public again.
    they will squander tax payers money and get election funding for 2020 when they award the enterprise zone funding, and pay taxpayers monies to chinese companies. the steel industry will be sold to them after a brief period of taxpayers support. This will result in tories getting control of the boardroom and the UK economy irrespective of who is governing from Parliament.
    Tories may think they are intelligent in adopting this controlling approach. They are deluding themselves as to their intelligence and the ultimate consequences.
    A nuclear power station built with inferior steel and controlled by the french will result with potential for further disastrous consequences if leakages and explosions occur.house
    building costs will escalate and the UK will be indebted to chinese banks, France, and the IMF.
    Tories will control the economy whether in or out of power and the UK will be divided when the scottish welsh and Irish opt for independence.

  2. David Woods March 31, 2016 at 7:25 am - Reply

    They won’t lift a finger of course.
    Look at the way Thatcher ripped the heart out of the coal industry and left them with nothing!
    Then add that comment to all the other industries sold off to foreign concerns, most would have been just to sweeten political ideals!

  3. mohandeer March 31, 2016 at 9:56 am - Reply

    Why the hell did the Conservatives not join the EU initiative in protecting EU industry from cheap market imports? Where was his head, or is that a rude question? It is time Labour Right stopped following Herr Blair’s fine example and started making a case for the working class, rather than pandering solely to the upper working and middle classes, which seems to be where their main focus is. I hope Corbyn can get them motivated to support his call instead of opposing as they usually do.

  4. mrmarcpc March 31, 2016 at 1:53 pm - Reply

    Signed! The tories won’t help out, like they didn’t help out the coal industry, Thatcher let it die, many jobs were lost, communities abandoned and left with nothing to replace it and these bunch of arseclowns are just following her lead, flog back to the people what was already theirs, become shareholders and make a huge profit from it, genius and this will be no different, didn’t help out Teesside, they won’t again and they won’t help the steel industry, they’re too busy kissing Chinese arse and don’t want to upset them by helping our industry to survive!

  5. Michael Broadhurst April 1, 2016 at 12:29 pm - Reply

    dont expect all rhetoric,no action CaMoron to do anything,he just likes to hear himself talk.

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