A FORMER Remploy trade union rep has spoken out over “broken promises” made by the Tories to hundreds of disabled workers they made redundant.

James Stribley, who was the GMB convenor at the Leeds factory, issued a moving letter yesterday to mark the second anniversary of the factory’s final closure.

Ministers promised that they would support workers to find “mainstream” jobs after closing the factories, which had been established by the 1945 Labour government to provide work for service people left disabled by war injuries.

But in a letter to fellow union members, Mr Stribley exposed the reality of life for the 2,000 former Reploy workers.

He wrote: “Of the disabled people that worked for Remploy, very few are working and the ones that are are on short hours or zero hours. The rest are stuck on benefits.

“Promises have been made by many but have failed to deliver.

“This won’t be forgotten, how people have suffered hardship since leaving Remploy.”

Mr Stribley, who also served on the GMB executive committee and remains a committed activist, compared the pledges given to Remploy staff to those now being made to steel workers.

He warned them: “Today’s news is tomorrow’s chip paper.

“It’s now the the steelworkers’ turn to have promises made to them. Let’s hope they get justice.”

GMB national secretary Jerry Nelson told the Star that less than half of former Remploy staff have found new work.

“A lot were quite a long way on in their working lives and just gave up the ghost,” he said.

“It’s horrendous. Their lives were destroyed by the government.”