BBC Local Live: Northamptonshire

Members of the Welsh Assembly are to be recalled to discuss the crisis in the steel industry - while Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn is calling for Parliament to return early from the Easter break.    

Last night Tata Steel - which employs more than 500 people at its plant in Corby - announced it planned to offload its UK business. It's thought to be losing £1million a day.

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 Ministers have warned it could take months for a buyer to be found.

Labour's Shadow Business Secretary has called on the government to present a viable plan to protect jobs in the British steel industry.

Speaking to Martha Kearney on BBC Radio 4, Angela Eagle said: "It's certainly possible for them to take them into some kind of public stewardship to preserve them while conditions change."

Business minister Anna Soubry said the government was considering "all options" for Tata's Port Talbot steel plant.

A Northamptonshire Police officer charged with the rape of a 17-year-old girl made his first court appearance today (Wednesday).

Following the announcement overnight that Tata steel is considering selling off its loss-making UK operation, politicians from all corners have been debating whether the industry should be re-nationalised.

But workers at the company's Corby plant have told me they think nationalisation is "unrealistic".

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Scott Garden - one of more than 500 Tata employees in Corby - said: "I think it's talk to calm things down. Hopefully they'll sell it to the right people, rather than people who will come in and asset strip it, and sell it off so we don’t have jobs."

Mereway in Northampton - which has been closed since yesterday following a gas leak - will reopen at 20:00.

Sarah Wilcox, from National Grid, told BBC Radio Northampton in the last few minutes: "We've had to cut out a section of the pipe and replace it altogether, which is why its taken a lot longer than we hoped."

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There are long delays around Mereway in Northampton, between Tesco and the Queen Eleanor roundabout, following a a gas leak. The National Grid said the main was damaged by a third party.

The road has been closed since yesterday afternoon and is not expected to open until 20:00.

It is currently subject to major works aimed at constructing a new roundabout at the junction of Wootton Hall Park.  

Police and crime commissioner Adam Simmonds says the relocation of Northamptonshire Police HQ has not been delayed.

He says the timeline has simply been "firmed up" since the plans have progressed.

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Speaking to BBC Radio Northampton he said talk of a move in 2017 was a hope, not a reality: "Better planning and more awareness of some of the changes we need to make means this is not a delay as far as I'm concerned."

The police control room will now move in April 2020.

After it was announced Tata Steel is considering selling its UK businesses, politicians have been debating whether the industry should be re-nationalised.

Workers at the company's Corby plant told me they think it is an "unrealistic" option... 

In 2013 China produced nearly 800 million tonnes of steel.

By comparison, the UK produced 12 million tonnes - and steel production now makes up just 1% of Britain's manufacturing output and 0.1% of all the UK's economic output.

The value of the industry to the UK economy has fallen by a quarter since 1990.

My latest article explores the situation here.

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The steel industry goes "right to the heart of what Corby is about" - that is the view of the town's MP, Tom Pursglove.

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He told the BBC he was proud products made in Corby have been used in the London Eye and the Wembley Arch.

"I want to see our steel industry prosper," he added amid concerns for the future of steel in the UK - and in Corby - following Tata Steel's decision to consider selling its UK businesses.

Tata Steel says it wants to move quickly to sell its operations in the UK. 

The company employs around 15,000 people across 14 sites in the UK - including around 500 at Corby - but says it has lost £2 billion over the past five years.

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Tata Steel has 15,000 workers in the UK. Of those, 5,000 are at plants in Lanarkshire and Scunthorpe, which are in the process of being sold to Liberty Group and Greybull Capital.

In this article, I explore just how involved the UK government wants to get in the steel industry.

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Corby's Conservative MP has told the BBC he is not calling for "out and out re-nationalisation" of the steel industry.

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But Tom Pursglove said "a short period of public ownership might be appropriate" while a new buyer is found after Tata Steel announced it is considering selling its UK operation.

Mr Pursglove said "all options" were on the table.

Unfair Chinese dumping and energy prices are two of the biggest problems facing the steel industry in the UK, according to Corby's MP.

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Tom Pursglove, who is also the vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on steel, said "all options" need to be on the table after Tata Steel announced it is planning to sell its UK businesses.

Mr Pusglove, who is writing to David Cameron on the issue, said he would "always put my constituency before my party allegiance" adding the wording of his letter would be "pretty strong".

Workers at Corby's Tata Steel plant have told me they are in complete shock over the news the company could be sold - putting hundreds of jobs in Corby at risk.

Scott Garden, who works for the company, said: "We've all got families, we all want to work and produce steel and make money. And the fact that that could be taken away from us is a massive shock."

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Northamptonshire Police chief constable, Simon Edens, has welcomed the relocation of the force's HQ, following the approval of the sale of part of the existing Wootton Hall site.

But he also stressed it's vital the move happens without putting public safety, police operations and business at risk.

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In a statement, Mr Edens said: "I want to make sure the inevitable effects of such a move on our workforce are kept to a minimum."

It was announced earlier that the full relocation has been delayed - but a new free school will open at Wootton Hall in Northampton in September.

Corby MP Tom Pursglove says he will this afternoon personally deliver a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron calling for action on the UK steel industry.

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Mr Pusglove was reacting to the news that Tata Steel is considering pulling out of the UK - a move which puts hundreds of jobs in Corby under threat.

He said he would be "making the case for UK steel, stressing the importance of it as a strategically important industry that is crucial for our national security".

Security is being improved at a 17th Century Elizabethan estate following a spate of thefts.

Kirby Hall near Corby has fallen victim to three break-ins since last August.

There will be a long delay to Northamptonshire Police moving out of it's current home.

The control room was due to leave Wootton Hall Park in Northampton by 2017, but that will now not happen until 2020. Meanwhile, the majority of police staff were due to leave the site by June - that now won't happen until September next year.

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A new free school, specialising in crime science, will open on the site this September - but in temporary buildings outside of the force's secure area.