‘Get the vultures out of our communities’

You would have to have a heart of stone not to feel for British steelworkers right now.

Twenty-five thousand jobs at risk, families devastated and until this week without even a short-term guarantee of wages or work.

Unite has been working tirelessly, day and night to bring some stability to a difficult and rapidly changing situation, and while we’re relieved to have obtained vital assurances from government that mean mortgages can be paid and families fed for the foreseeable future, we are under no illusions that there is much work still to be done to save the sites that are the backbone of our communities.

A proud workforce has given their all to keep this industry alive, fighting against economic headwinds and the indifference of successive governments.

Now those same workers and their families face an uncertain future as British Steel sits in receivership.

This is in sharp contrast to the fortunes of the two super-wealthy families who bankroll Greybull, the shady private financiers who bought the company for ÂŁ1 in 2015.

Neither of those families will be having sleepless nights worrying about the next pay cheque.

They are doing very well, thanks to Greybull’s strategy of dumping debt onto British Steel and charging management fees for basic transactions.

They’ll be slipping off into the sunset, having done very nicely from the near collapse of a great company.

Greybull is the ugly face of capitalism. They are bandits who should never have been able to get their hands on one of this nation’s strategic industries.

Unite is determined that they will be exposed for what they are, which is why we are pressing for a full parliamentary inquiry into these rogues and an end to the short-term profiteering that wrecks lives and the economy.

We want it to be known the world over that this company connived with parts of the media to destabilise British Steel.

Greybull drip-fed the dire state of its finances to a journalist, destabilising the company and throwing the supply chain to the wolves, but kept the workforce in the dark.

Once again, workers learn their fate over the radio as bosses dash to make sure that they’re alright, Jack.

So Unite says good riddance to Greybull — but for heaven’s sake, after the Carillion collapse last year, let’s not kid ourselves that private money is a good ownership model for industries that operate in the national interest.

Public money can and must be spent when the case for the economic good and the avoidance of community devastation is so strong.

And I invite that pound shop panto dame Ann Widdecombe to come with me to Scunthorpe, Teesside and Skinningrove to tell the men and women of these sites that “factories close all the time” and see what reaction she gets.

Milkshakes may be the nicest thing heading in her direction.

British Steel must have a future, a secure future, with a world-class workforce producing a world-class product.

From our own rail tracks to the French railway system and the main stand at Anfield, the graft of Britain’s workers is clear to see.

If the government has the sense to use our taxpayers’ money to support UK Plc and up its use of UK Steel products in public contracts then this business and our steel sector will thrive.

And when UK steel thrives, we all benefit. Some ÂŁ1 billion floods into the Treasury coffers from the profits of British Steel alone, money much-needed by our NHS and schools.

In contrast, 25,000 skilled men and women sitting on the dole will cost the country over ÂŁ2bn a year.

The urgency now is to keep these workers in a job and paid, to provide certainty and confidence to the market in the company and its products.

We will have our day to expose Greybull too, making sure that they can never again rinse a business and line their pockets at the expense of decent, hard-working men and women.

Unite will not rest until British Steel is in safe and trustworthy hands.

• This comment first appeared in the Morning Star on Monday, May 27.