MP demands steel pensions action

Former steelworkers have fought a long campaign over their pensions

A call for Government intervention in the dispute over steelworkers' pensions, so that workers can avoid legal action, has come from an MP.

One thousand people lost jobs at Allied Steel and Wire, in Wales and Kent, when it went into receivership.

Two unions have served a writ on the Government over steelworkers' pensions.

In the Commons, Julie Morgan, Labour MP for Cardiff North, asked if there was any way to prevent workers going to court to seek what was rightfully theirs.

EU directive

Amicus and the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation have accused the Government of failing to implement an EU directive aimed at safeguarding pensions of workers in firms which go into receivership.

Ms Morgan asked Commons leader Peter Hain if there was anything he could do "to get us out of this impasse".

She said: "It is an outrageous situation that these steelworkers have paid into the pension fund all their live and now are entitled to nothing."

Mr Hain said it was disgraceful that workers had been "robbed" of their pensions.

He said: "You will appreciate that the Government has to consider the knock-on effects for other similar situations and the law in this respect.

"One of the reasons we are bringing in new legislation in the future following the Green Paper on pensions reform is precisely to address the plight of workers such as the Allied Steel and Wire workers who have been so badly treated in their pensions."

ASW went into receivership earlier this year.