Teesside: Labour requires inquiry into steelworks regeneration after allegations of ‘cronyism and backroom offers’

Labour is demanding an inquiry into the regeneration of the Teesside Steelworks web site following allegations of “cronyism and backroom deals”.

The get together claimed there was “a worrying lack of effective safeguards to ensure value for money for taxpayers”, attacking the Conservative mayor for the Tees Valley, Ben Houchen.

Mr Houchen dismissed the calls as “a coordinated attack by the Labour Party to try and undermine and talk Teesside down”.

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Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy wrote to the comptroller and auditor basic of the National Audit Office (NAO) to name for the inquiry.

She stated an investigation is warranted to “answer important questions about the transfer of a vital public asset into private ownership, the potential loss to the public from these transactions, and the almost total absence of sufficiently robust oversight or accountability at national, regional or local level”.

Ms Nandy stated she is “deeply concerned” that ministers and civil servants seem to have had “little or no knowledge” about what was occurring on Teesside.

The Labour frontbencher made the intervention following a report within the Financial Times.

Reports that personal builders got here to personal 90% of the shares within the venture and not using a public tender are a key concern raised by Labour.

Ms Nandy additionally highlights claims that “developers have already secured £45m in dividends despite failing to invest any of their own money in the project”.

Labour states the taxpayer has invested “more than £260m, in addition to providing a public loan worth more than £100m”.

After the metal plant within the Tees estuary closed in 2015, an organization was set as much as handle the regeneration of the sizeable industrial web site.

Mr Houchen is the chair of the board of the South Tees Development Corporation.

It is the possession of shares on this firm which Ms Nandy raised in her letter to the NAO.

Mr Houchen says there was “£2bn of private sector investment” and virtually 3,000 jobs created in Teesside since 2015 – and that Labour is searching for to “smear” an “incredible project” that has been “delivered by the Conservative Party in a traditional Labour heartland”.

There are additionally plans to show the Tees growth right into a freeport – a scheme championed by Rishi Sunak, which seeks to create tax-free zones for transport.

Ms Nandy stated: “[The FT] report raises very serious questions. The government has handed over hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to a project that is now 90% in private ownership, while the private owners appear not to have put in a penny and pocketed millions.

“There appears to have been no scrutiny or primary oversight from ministers. Instead they’ve merely signed off on this deal and walked away.

“There must be a comprehensive, independent investigation to ensure the public interest is protected.”