Cumbria Factory Closures (No.1.)

EDM number 1299 in 1992-93, proposed by DN Campbell-Savours on 02/02/1993.

That this House questions the activities of Luxembourg steel producer Arbed SA; opposes its stunning decision to close its West Cumbria copper foil plant creating 130 redundancies, many in unemployment blackpot Maryport; rejects as outrageous the stripping out of the plant's valuable equipment and its shipment to Luxembourg subsidiaries; notes that Circuit Foils UK has one of British industry's finest export records built up over decades of careful market planning and worker effort; asks why a major part of the export book has been discreetly siphoned off to Luxembourg subsidiaries thereby undermining the West Cumberland plant's viability; notes the plant's ú10 million plus investment programme since 1980 of which ú2 million was in the last three years, much of it funded with government grant, and the decision to ditch a further grant supported ú1.2 million investment programme; believes that this about-turn contradicts repeated company assurances to the workforce on future job security; calls upon Messrs Arbed to reconsider their decision in light of the devastating effect closure will have on West Cumbria; believes the company has no right to punish its United Kingdom employees for difficulties that have arisen in its two Luxembourg plants; believes that a market upturn in Britain will inevitably lead to further swelling of the trade deficit as Britain seeks to import copper foil; and questions what support has been provided by Luxembourg and the EC to parent company Arbed SA and used for investment in subsidiary operations.

This motion has been signed by a total of 79 MPs.