Corus has defended its chief executive after a damning report by MPs on the mothballing of Teesside Cast Products (TCP).

Kirby Adams was admonished for refusing to appear before the North-East Select Committee to look at ways of saving 1,600 jobs.

The committee of Labour MPs held an inquiry following the announcement, in December, that the Redcar plant would be mothballed.

Launching the report yesterday, committee chairman, Stockton South MP Dari Taylor, lambasted Mr Adams for behaving in what she described as an arrogant and disrespectful manner. She said: “We wanted to know why Redcar was closing when we knew they were producing the best slab steel in the world. We asked Kirby Adams to explain but he couldn’t find time. I found that deplorable. I believe he had no intention of selling the plant – it was always his plan to mothball it.”

But last night TCP managing director Jon Bolton, who did give evidence to the committee, said: “The allegations are unfounded. The official invitations went out before Christmas and Mr Adams was not invited. He received a call a couple of days before, and he couldn’t make that date.”

Mr Bolton said it was then agreed Mr Adams would submit answers in writing which he did, adding: “Mr Adams has had many meetings including with the Prime Minister and Lord Mandelson and continues to have discussions with the Government.”

The committee described the behaviour of the international consortium, which pulled out of a ten-year deal last April to buy nearly 80 per cent of TCP’s output, as disgraceful and reckless. But the MPs also criticised what they called Corus’s short-sighted decision to close its rolling mill in Redcar and Lackenby in 2002, which has left it unable to turn TCP slab into a finished product within Teesside.

Mr Bolton said: “We have had ten years of operating, the reason we are here is that the consortium walked away from the deal.”

The committee of MPs is demanding sufficient staff are retained on site to enable it to reopen. Ms Taylor said: “The company must act responsibly and do the right thing by all of the communities that have supported it all these years.”

Mr Bolton said he agreed that retaining skills had to be a priority, adding: “Two weeks ago we posted 500 job opportunities within Corus in this region and outside, giving us the scope to retain skills to restart the plant.”

Geoff Waterfield, TCP multi-union chairman, echoed the committee’s frustration with senior management at Corus.

He said: “Kirby Adams made it very clear that he did not want to speak to the select committee which has been looking at ways of trying to keep the plant open.”