by business editor Trevor Sturgess

MP Gordon Henderson has welcomed the sale of Thamesteel – but with reservations.

Mr Henderson, MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, has been closely involved in moves to save the plant since it plunged into administration on January 25.

After several bids came to nothing, he had expected the plant to finally close. But administrators at accounting firm Mazars confirmed yesterday that a new company owned by the Saudi Arabian Al-Tuwairqi Group had bought the Sheerness complex.

Mr Henderson said he was delighted, even if the deal saved only a proportion of the 600 jobs previously at the site.

“On the face of it, it’s good news. I’m being told they will resume steel production and recreate as many jobs as possible that were lost when Thamesteel went into administration. I’m hopeful that we will save at least half of those jobs.”

But he added: “Any news is good news but I have minor reservations that the company that’s buying it is a subsidiary of the company that owned it in the first place. That gives me some concerns and so I will be monitoring the situation very carefully - as I know the Government will - to ensure they operate a going concern and that this is not just a strategy of finding another way of closing it down.

“If the company can run it at a profit now why did they have to call in the administrators in the first place. We need to ensure that some of the practices that went on before don’t happen again. We want to ensure this is going to be run to produce profits for this country and not for Saudi Arabia.”

Mr Henderson said it was his role to ask questions “but I don’t want to scupper any possibility that this sale could create some jobs.”

He was pleased that many former steel workers had found new work. If jobs were on offer at their old plant under new ownership, they would have to decide what to do. But they may conclude that their loyalty lay with their new employer.

Joint administrator Rod Weston, said the sale concluded a long and painful process which could have resulted in the end of steelmaking on the island. “However, after several false dawns, we have secured a sale to the only bidder to come forward with the intention of restarting production at the plant.”