STEEL bosses in the North-East have been warned to think strategically as more job losses are expected at Anglo-Dutch steel group Corus.

Yesterday, The Northern Echo reported that two of the company's chief executives resigned earlier this week and the group is expected to make the first compulsory redundancies among its Teesside workers at Lackenby.

The former British Steel company has already slashed thousands of jobs this year, including 760 at Lackenby, Redcar and the Grangetown Research Centre.

Councillor David Walsh, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, who is a former steelworker, said: "The strategic case for a strong steel industry in the UK is overwhelming.

"We cannot run a modern economy and invest in modern infrastructure without a steelmaking capacity in the UK.

"The Teesside works have proved over and over again that they can compete with the world's best when it comes to quality, reliability and price.

"The current weakness of the euro is, after all, only a feature of the present economy, and it would be foolish to eliminate production capacity and axe local steelmaking jobs simply because of what may be a merely short-term economic indicator."

Coun Walsh added: "The council will be vigilant in its defence of local industry and local jobs.

"The Teesside economy is wider than just steel, but steel is one of our core industries, and many thousands of other jobs rely indirectly on the good health of the works at Lackenby, Redcar and Skinningrove.