CORUS PLC

Early day motion 220, tabled 17 January 2001 by Llew Smith (Labour). Signed by 136 members.

That this House deplores the comment by Corus Chairman, Brian Moffat, that his company is 'in business to make money not steel'; notes that the first act of the Board of Directors of Corus after it was formed was to pay out ú694 million to its shareholders; notes that Corus also appropriated unilaterally ú863 million from a surplus in the British Steel Pension Fund and provided massive remuneration increases to former Dutch senior management, providing pay-offs of between ú1 and ú2 million to chief executives who were dismissed; further regrets that Corus, through acquisitions and mergers that can be identified from published sources, has spent ú137.4 million abroad compared with capital investment in the United Kingdom, which can be identified from published sources of ú3.6 million; and therefore rejects Corus' business strategy and calls upon the company to retain the current configuration of the steel industry and to prioritise investment in steel making.

Signatures by party: Labour 122, Labour/Co-operative 12, Liberal Democrat 1, Unknown 1.