A SENIOR committee of backbench MPs has criticised steel giant Corus and the Government over the company's plans to axe thousands of jobs - including 1,100 on Teesside.

The Commons Trade and Industry Committee's report attacks Corus for secrecy before announcing the cutbacks on February 1.

Although the MPs "regret" the Government was kept in the dark, they add there was little it could have done about it.

The report criticises Corus boss Sir Brian Moffat's evidence to the committee. The MPs say they heard nothing from him which excused the cuts as part of a long-term strategy for the company's survival.

When the committee visited the North-East, no one they asked seemed sure who was responsible for clearing up redundant steel sites.

The committee says a clear statement by the Government, including powers to enforce clean-up of empty sites "would be helpful".

The MPs want "prompt publication by Corus of plans for their evacuation of redundant sites", as well as a clean-up timetable.

The Government also comes in for some criticism for not having "economic policies which could have produced a different short-term outcome".

The committee - which has a Labour majority - calls on the Government to "go beyond the role of dispassionate observers and compilers of scorecards" and bring in measures to encourage new capital investment in steel and other key manufacturing industries.

The report also says the Government should fight to defend the UK steel industry against unfair foreign competition, but also recognises the strength of the Euro has not helped.

The high cost of industrial electricity must be brought down to the lower levels paid by French, German and Benelux competitors.

Teesside Labour MP Ashok Kumar welcomed the report. He said that Sir Brian Moffat was working by "crisis management" and he attacked him for "old style Victorian management practices".