Some SSI workers in Redcar have told the BBC they only heard about the 1,700 jobs being cut by watching the news.

The company sent an email to staff outlining the plans, but it seems some only found out through the media.

Have you been affected by the decision to mothball the steel plant? Get in touch by tweeting us @BBCNewsNE, external, email us, or contact us through our Facebook page, external.

Matthew Nixon sent us this picture of supporters at the Riverside Stadium at the weekend

Middlesbrough fans were showing their support as part of the Save Our Steel campaign over the problems being faced by the Redcar steel plant.

Image source, Matthew Nixon

Ian Cameron from the union Unite urges Redcar not to follow the lead of Corby, which was a steel town for decades until the industry collapsed.

He speaks of the "deep determination" on Teesside, with people still turning up for work when they had almost missed out on being paid 

Watch the Labour Party conference live here.

Speaking at the emergency debate at the Labour Party conference, Community union general secretary Roy Rickhuss says the SSI workers are "passionate about steel" and that steelmaking is "part of the Teesside DNA".

He adds: "We still don't know the full impact this will have on the wider steel community."

Image source, bbc

He said the announcement has devastated the whole community, and called for the government to step in as mothballing the plant is a "failure of political will".  

Redcar Labour MP Anna Turley then leads a round of applause in solidarity for the SSI workers affected by the job cuts announced today

Labour MP Anna Turley adds: "There is a future for steel in this country, but we have a government which just doesn't believe in the future for steel."

She then calls on David Cameron to step in, saying other countries in the EU have intervened in industry.

She continues: "This is devastating. This week we heard a defiant, gut-wrenching roar from Teesside, over 170 years of toil and endeavour forging steel has come down to a few days of desperate fighting."

Redcar Labour MP Anna Turley says: "SSI has announced 1,700 job losses. It is completely heartbreaking for those involved and there are another 6,000 more jobs hit in the area - those who work on the ports, carry the coals, supply the gas, wash the overalls, move the skips and feed the workforce."

Redcar MP Anna Turley takes to the stage at the Labour Party conference to call for an emergency motion over the 1,700 job losses at SSI.

Reader Peter Simpson emails us to say:

"What use are support groups to those whose livelihood has been removed?

"Last week the Chancellor, and potential Prime Minister, was encouraging the Chinese to pour billions of pounds into our economy and to get involved with, amongst other things, building new train lines and infrastructure here in the UK.

"I noted that no comment was made about where the material requirements, i.e. steel, would be sourced but as the Chinese will be pouring money in they will be wanting to supply most items from China to fuel their own economy and industry, steel is cheap to produce in China. 

"I dread to think where the legacy of pandering to the Chinese and their steel will take us. Rails and bridges which are not constructed with quality steel will put the lives of the British public at risk. Are we willing to take that risk?"

Eugene Purvis, who works at SSI in Redcar, told me: "The firm is one of the biggest employers on Teesside and at one point had 3,000 men and 1,000 contractors. 

"It's devastating for an area of already high unemployment."

Eugene then smiled and I asked him how he managed to stay positive.

He said: "One thing they can take away is work, but they'll never take away the Teesside sense of humour."  

Fiona Trott
BBC News

SSI worker Eugene Purvis told me: "We're wondering what's going to happen work-wise.

"I'm 56 years old, where do I get employed next? And of course this area, with some of the highest unemployment in the country, people are going to be a bit snookered I think.

"I was here from the Tata days, there was a lot of people who left jobs to come in and work for SSI, for the security more than anything else.

"[The company] came over and spent millions, absolute millions, it give the country the foreign investment it was crying out for, and I'm afraid the government and the country isn't replying."

The government says it has provided steel firms with more than £47m in compensation for carbon permit costs. 

Beyond that it says its hands are tied by strict European Union state-aid rules. 

Business minister Anna Soubry has previously promised to raise allegations of "dumping" by Chinese firms - where products are sold at below fair value - during a trip to China. 

BBC Radio 4

Conservative Stockton South MP James Wharton is the northern powerhouse minister. He told The World At One the Redcar SSI mothballing is "bad news" and "you can't sugarcoat" that. 

He believes there is a possibility the plant could be reopened but has rejected a call for re-nationalisation:

He said: "An industry which has made a loss over each of the last three years would pass that responsibility to the tax payer. 

"It would present huge issues for the rest of the steel market in this country in terms of how they would then be able to compete with, what will be, a nationalised company. It's just not something that is going to happen."

Another worker told us: "Well obviously, it's going to impact a lot, we've already been looking at our finances and looking at what we can do with our mortgage and things like that. 

"Worked there for seven years, so I was there through the last mothball. So it's all the same again. 

"It's been going on for quite a while, even I'd say beginning of the year we were already trying to reduce costs, numbers, things like that, then. And we knew we couldn't survive the whole year if the market didn't change."

We've been getting more reaction from people in Redcar about the decision to mothball the SSI plant.

One woman told the BBC News Channel: "It's absolutely devastating. 

"I mean it's hard enough for people now. Especially, it's Christmas, kids want presents, mortgages to pay." 

Here's two contrasting opinions on the prospect of the government stepping in to help the Redcar SSI plant:

But others are asking why the taxpayer should foot the bill:

British steel is at a crossroads today, a union chief claims.  

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "There now needs to be a comprehensive, rapid response plan to help workers affected by the closure. 

"The future of British steel-making is at a crossroads. At a time when competitor nations are spending heavily on helping their energy-intensive industries to become greener, companies in the UK are being forced to pay huge costs. 

"The Chancellor must provide more financial support for manufacturers in November's spending review. If the Government does nothing plants like SSI will continue to close." 

The Gazette has written a Q&A about what happens now at the Redcar SSI plant:

You can read it here, external.