AN MP has joined union leaders and the boss of a troubled steel works to try to save it from closure.

Bill Cooper, who was managing director of Weardale Steel at Wolsingham, County Durham, before it was put in the hands of administrators, says he will use his years of expertise to help find a buyer.

He has offered his services to the Sheffield-based administrators, which is running the 140-year-old steel plant.

Mr Cooper's move has the backing of Government Chief Whip and local MP, Hilary Armstrong, who revealed in The Northern Echo yesterday that the Department of Trade and Industry had started investigating the affairs of Midlands-based Eastwood Industries, which took over Weardale Steel two months ago.

She said: "Bill Cooper knows the potential of the company, the needs of its order book and what it takes to make the company tick.

"The top priority now is to get a new company in to run Weardale Steel and provide secure jobs for its workers."

Kenny Lally, Amicus shop steward and a steelworker for 29 years, yesterday met regional union leaders to discuss the jobs crisis.

He said: "Our union is concerned about the way the redundancies were handled and the speed they were carried out. My members were only given 30 minutes' notice.

"But it's imperative that this company carries on, even if it is only with 20 or 30 workers."

Mr Cooper, 57, who was managing director of Weardale Steel for seven years, said last night: "I have informed the company's administrators that I am prepared to help in any way to secure a new owner for Weardale Steel.

"Over the years, we have built up a highly-specialised niche in steel-making - and it is vital that this is allowed to carry on."

An advertisement, which has appeared in financial newspapers, describes Weardale Steel as having "a blue-chip base with strong order book and a turnover of £3.7m for the year ended December 31, 2001".

In the takeover deal with the Dorset-based Langham group of companies, Eastwood Industries paid just £1 for Weardale Steel after promising to open up new markets.

But, seven weeks later, the administrators moved in, making 54 of the workforce redundant and keeping on 29 to work on existing contracts.