THE Tories are sacrificing Britain’s steel industry on the “altar of laissez-faire economics,” shadow business secretary Angela Eagle warned yesterday.

Ms Eagle made the charge against ministers as she led Labour’s latest attempt in Parliament to force the government to save the industry.

Workers facing an uncertain future travelled from Britain’s steelmaking cities to London to lobby MPs and watch the debate.

It came on the day that Business Secretary Sajid Javid belatedly travelled to Brussels to ask for EU agreement for state aid for British steel.

But the reluctant response comes only after thousands of job losses have already been announced in Redcar, Scunthorpe, Motherwell and Cambuslang.

Just a handful of Tory MPs bothered to attend the crucial debate, but Labour’s motion calling for “immediate action to protect the steel industry” was voted down by 307 to 208.

“It’s hard to avoid the conclusion the government has been so slow to act because they have an ideological aversion to any government intervention,” said Ms Eagle.

She called on the government to adopt an industrial strategy that would help British steel compete for new contracts in the long term.

Wales Secretary Stephen Crabb accused Labour of trying to “turn this into a political football” as he responded for the government.

But he struggled to fill in for Mr Javid and Labour MP Kevan Jones bluntly blasted: “They should have sent someone who knew something about the subject.”

The government also came in for criticism from its own side.

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised that the industry would be compensated for high energy costs until 2020.

But rather than providing energy compensation immediately, the government is waiting for permission from the European Commission.

Tory MP Peter Bone said: “If we believe it’s within state rules, let’s just get on and do it even if the EU says No.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will visit Tata’s steelworks in Scunthorpe today to speak to workers who face losing their jobs.