REDCAR steelworkers took another body blow yesterday when it was confirmed that their plant’s owner SSI UK is to go into liquidation.

Around 1,700 jobs are being axed after SSI announced earlier this week that it would mothball iron and steelmaking at the site.

Now the board has applied to wind up the Teesside business altogether, but has yet to make a public statement.

“We will want the government and the liquidator to involve all interested parties who may wish to acquire the site and speak to them to save as much of the site as possible,” said steel union GMB site convener Steve Readman.

“This is an extremely worrying time for our members and their families and the wider community and we will be doing all we can to support them.”

The liquidation announcement came just hours after the government announced an £80 million financial package to support workers who have lost their jobs at the huge steel plant.

It includes funding for workers to retrain at local further education colleges and to help them start their own businesses.

The government also confirmed that the company had made a “last-minute and unrealistic” request for an “open-ended” funding commitment by the taxpayer to maintain the coke ovens in Redcar, which SSI had initially declared it would keep open.

Trade unions and the Labour Party have accused the government of failing to do enough and warned that it could not walk away from its responsibilities now.

“We have been saying for weeks that SSI is not fit for purpose,” said a spokesman for the Community union.

“It is clear that SSI has yet again put forward a plan to government that lacks credibility.

“We believe there are alternative plans and parties who could intervene to protect the industrial assets.”

Shadow business secretary Angela Eagle said: “The government must explain why, when the industry has been in trouble for so long, they have allowed the situation to disintegrate into catastrophe.”

Ms Eagle added that she and shadow chancellor John McDonnell would travel to Teeside on Monday “to meet Anna Turley and other Teesside Labour MPs, to listen to the steelworkers and their families and show our support.”

Redcar has been blighted by unemployment since the 1980s and entire houses can be rented for as little as £150 a month.