Crocodile tears from Ed Miliband as Rio Tinto smelter closes resulting in job losses
http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-e...1634-29790101/
The end: Rio Tinto plant to close as a result of EU legislation
Quote:
Originally Posted by Journal, Labour leader Ed Miliband on Rio Tinto closure
Ed Miliband has expressed his sorrow at the loss of more than 500 jobs at the Lynemouth aluminium smelter. Northumberland’s biggest private sector employer, Rio Tinto Alcan, announced it would close the smelter, blaming rising energy costs. The firm will now conduct a 90-day consultation process with staff and union representatives. There are also fears over a further 100 jobs as the company also revealed it is in discussions regarding the potential sale of the power station at the site.
The Lynemouth smelter opened in 1972 and employs 515 people. An additional 111 are employed at the power station. Mr Miliband said: "It’s very bad news about what is happening at Alcan and I am very sorry for them and for their families. "We said very clearly we would cut VAT, which would give some relief in relation to fuel costs, for instance. But the most important thing to say is that unless we get our economy moving we are going to see more redundancies and that is the problem."
But as exposed below, the Mr. Miliband is crying crocodile tears because it was he, as a supporter of us remaining in the European Union along with being the one who along with the European Commission created our ridiculous climate change policies as Energy and Climate Change Secretary which have resulted in thousands of jobs being shed, this the latest in what will be a long long of more to come.
http://www.godfreybloommep.co.uk/news.htm
Quote:
Originally Posted by By Godfrey Bloom, UKIP MEP
The planned closure of the Rio Tinto Alcan aluminium smelter in Northumberland was today condemned by UKIP. The loss of potentially up to 650 jobs has been due to a raft of legislation created by the European Union and enforced by the UK Government. This has resulted in Rio Tinto shifting its focus and converting completely to biomass fuels in order to meet legislative demands. This has led to the planned closure of the aluminium plant in order to reduce costs of the conversion, which will cost Rio Tinto £50m and up to £170m per year to run.
"All the MEPs who voted for these EU Directives now killing jobs in the North of England should be paraded around Lynemouth to hear the views of local people," said Mr Bloom, UKIP economics spokesman..
"When the Lib Dems talk of turning the UK into the "Greenest country in Europe" they really mean a wasteland of sheep and no people. "What about the "sustainability" of ordinary people's jobs?", queried Mr Bloom, MEP for Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire.
"These environmental taxes are putting ordinary people on the dole queue and raising their energy bills at the same time. These whacky environmentalists need to be shown the error of their ways.
"It's ordinary people losing their jobs who should be our priority in the Britain."
Notes -
The European Commission (EC) claimed that Alcan is in breach of their operating license as the station has failed to "significantly reduce its emissions". The UK Government contested the allegations, as the power station and smelter combined provide 650 jobs and a contribution of £100,000,000 to the local economy, in an area heavily affected by the loss of traditional heavy industry.
They lost the court case over it and on 22 April 2010, the European Court of Justice ruled that the plant was subject to the emission limit values of the European directive on Large Combustion Plants. As a consequence, the station has to have at least £200 million worth of adaptations made to it so that it conforms to the directive, or be shut down. A date has not yet been given for it to conform, but two options for saving the station are the CCS project, or a switch from coal to biomass as a fuel.
Many Local MPs and Liberal Democrat MEP, Fiona Hall have mentioned that this could be potentially be "devastating". It should be reminded that the Liberal Democrats have consistently supported further EU energy Directives in the pursuit of Sustainability.
Ask yourself this, do you trust Ed Miliband, David Cameron or Nick Clegg or the European Commission (who really run the show) to 'save' our economy?
I certainly don't.
Thoughts? does Ed Miliband take us all for complete fools?
