A NORTH-EAST election candidate has come under fire for continually criticising Corus’ efforts to save its mothballed steel plant.

Balasubramanian Muthuraman, vice-chairman of the steelmaker’s owner Tata, has written to Vera Baird, saying Corus chief executive Kirby Adams and his team had worked “tirelessly” on behalf of Teesside Cast Products (TCP), in Redcar, east Cleveland.

And he said that her continued public criticism of Corus risks damaging the company’s efforts to find a new strategic partner for TCP.

A Corus spokesman said: “The Redcar plant was mothballed after a consortium of offtakers cancelled a legally binding ten-year agreement. Corus kept the plant going for as long as it could and at a cost of unsustainable losses of more than £150m to the company.

“Mr Muthuraman said Kirby Adams, the Corus chief executive officer and managing director, and his team have worked tirelessly to find a solution and continue to do so.

“Mr Muthuraman has told Ms Baird that he felt her continued criticism of the company and of Mr Adams, in particular, was unfair and unwarranted. Such criticism was unhelpful to the company and its workforce.

“He said Tata Steel remained open to any credible offer which ensured the long-term future for steel making in Teesside but that some of those offers so far received had been without substance or credibility.”

The riposte follows Ms Baird’s latest attack on the company when she claimed the chances of securing a deal could be severely affected by Phil Dryden, director of the Long Products Division, leaving Corus.

The partial mothballing of the plant started in February. Since then details have emerged of a number of bidders understood to be interested in TCP, including a local consortium led by Chris Musgrave, the man behind Teesside’s Wynyard Park business development, and Guisborough-born Paul Weavers.

The estimated number of redundancies at the plant has dropped from 1,600 to 1,500 due to new posts being identified at the company.

■ The Northern Echo last night contacted Ms Baird, who is standing for re-election next month, but she was unavailable for comment.