A special inquiry is to be held by MPs into the government’s decision to cancel an £80m business loan to steel firm Sheffield Forgemasters.
The business, innovation and skills select committee is planning to hold a one-off evidence session on the topic next month.
The inquiry comes as Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg again rejects fresh calls to reconsider the decision to cancel the £80m funding, which would have been used to fund a 15,000-tonne forging press to make parts for nuclear power plants.
Addressing Mr Clegg in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Cardiff West MP Kevin Brennan said: "Is he now prepared to apologise for the mistake he made about Sheffield Forgemasters and join the Liberal leader of Sheffield City Council in calling for some public finance for this project?"
The Deputy Prime Minister said the loan was "not affordable under this year's budget" and added that the loan had been agreed in a "promise made where the money was not available".
However, he stressed that the government will continue to work with Sheffield Forgemasters to see how they could support the business in the future.
Business Secretary Vince Cable admitted in a letter to Labour MP Adrian Bailey, the select committee's chairman, that advice to the previous government had shown that benefits of the loan were likely to exceed costs.
He wrote: "If the government had been operating in an environment where there were no budgetary constraints, it is likely that the secretary of state for business would have recommended that the loan be offered."
MPs To Investigate Scrapping Of Forgemasters Loan
Financial Services > Business Loans > News
MPs To Investigate Scrapping Of Forgemasters Loan
Fri, 10 Sep 2010
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