Commenting on the rescue of British Steel, Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Today is a fantastic day for Teesside. Having worked flat out for nearly a year to secure a deal for British Steel I am pleased this day has finally come. Thanks to Jingye we have been able to save hundreds of Teesside jobs.
“It must have been a horrible time for workers who have carried on working so incredibly hard and professionally during all the uncertainty, and I want to thank them for their help in getting this deal over the line, along with the Government and trade unions. For the 70 employees affected by redundancy we have put in place direct support for them via the Grangetown Hub. So while today is good news there are some Teesside families who will be badly affected.
“The future of British Steel now looks very positive. And because we have struck a deal with SSI to take control of the former Redcar steelworks, we can now move forward with my plans to bring steelmaking back to Teesside with a state-of-the-art electric arc furnace. This will be delivered within three years and we will provide good quality, well-paid jobs for local people when steelmaking returns to Teesside.
“This is just the beginning. We have the building blocks in place and we are making great progress in Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool. We are securing the investment that is creating the jobs local people need and deserve.”
