PROSPECTIVE Redcar MP Vera Baird was due to meet Secretary for State for Trade and Industry Stephen Byers last night over closures announced by steel giant Corus and shipbuilders Cammell Laird.

The London lawyer, hoping to take over the seat from Mo Mowlam, is pressing for urgent help to retrain 234 steel workers at Lackenby coil plate mill.

Ms Baird is also due to chair a campaign group aimed at stopping the closure of the Cammell Laird on Teesside, where 110 jobs will be lost.

A campaign to save the yard is to be launched at Eston Town Hall on Friday, with union officials, David Walsh, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and Teesside MPs Stuart Bell, Dari Taylor and Ashok Kumar, along with former Cammell Laird employees.

It hopes to ensure a buyer is found for the company as a going concern who will continue to repair ships on the Tees and safeguard jobs.

Ms Baird said last night: "It is inconceivable that a major river such as the Tees will not have a ship repair facility, and I will be having an urgent meeting with Government ministers this week and expect to have some positive news to present to the meeting on Friday."

"I will also be contacting potential buyers to arrange for them to meet representatives of the skilled people who could be available to ensure that ship repairing is maintained on the River Tees."