LORD Heseltine believes his remark that it was “a good time” for Tees steelworkers to lose their jobs was “twisted” by his political enemies, as he pledged to bring hope to the region's jobseekers.  

The former Deputy Prime Minister was in Stockton today to spearhead efforts to offset the thousands of job cuts that have rocked the area.

Last week, the announcement of his appointment as chair of the Tees Valley Inward Investment programme, met a mixed response. Conservative MPs welcomed the veteran peer, but Anna Turley, Redcar MP, said in the wake of his controversial comments it showed “total contempt” for Teesside.   

Following meetings with James Wharton, the Northern Powerhouse Minister, business and political leaders today in Stockton, Lord Heseltine was asked if he was the right man to lead regeneration efforts after his remarks had upset steelworkers and their families.     

“I don’t know how much upset they (the remarks) caused,” he said.

“There were people who twisted what I said. But there was very much a political element to that and I have been in the rough end of politics long enough to know that’s the way things happen.

“What I said was that for the people who have lost their jobs in the steel industry it is very tough, very difficult and one is deeply sympathetic for them. But if you are going to go through that process, losing your job, you are bound to be influenced by the state of the economy in which you are living.

"And we have seen over the last five years on Teesside a remarkable change in the employment prospects and indeed over the last two or three years coming out of recession job creation has been a quarterly occurrence in Teesside."

The positive jobs outlook in the first half of this year has taken a severe dent, however, after the closure of SSI at Redcar which will result in more than 2,000 redundancies. That has been followed by news that more than 800 people employed by SSI's suppliers have lost jobs, and cuts announced by Tata Steel, Caparo, Boulby Potash mine and threats to the public sector. 

Lord Heseltine added: "Frankly if they are going to be losing their jobs at a time when jobs are being created in other industries and in nearby localities it is better than what I remember in Liverpool in 1981 where there were no jobs, so it was utterly despairing. 

“I think it is important to give people at least some hope in difficult times," added Lord Heseltine, who warned that he was not "in the business of making short term gimmicky promises,”.

"It is a long term business that takes time and patience," he said.