Live updates for the North East  have finished for the day, but we'll be back from 08:00 on Tuesday with the latest news, sport, weather and travel updates from across the area.

We'll also have extended coverage as a report into the MH17 plane disaster is published. We hope you can join us then.     

A toddler who's thought to have choked on a grape in a Hartlepool restaurant is on life support in hospital.

A spokesman for Pizza Hut, where the incident happened, described it as "very serious". 

Image source, Google

He added: "Our thoughts and concern are with the child and his family at this very difficult time."

Jacob Jenkins, who's two, was initially taken to the James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough, and then flown to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.

His mother, Abigail, asked family and friends on Facebook to pray for her son.

BBC Newcastle
www.bbc.co.uk/BBCNewcastle

A study's been launched into bringing passenger trains back on to the Ashington, Blyth and Tyne railway line, 50 years after the last service.

Freight services continue on the line to Newcastle, but some railway stations would have to be rebuilt.

Northumberland county council has committed £5m to the project. Officials say the study will cost £850,000.

Image source, David Niven

The South East Northumberland Rail Users Group, external has campaigned for the line to carry passengers again and ran a chartered train as a trial in 2008. 

The group says bringing services back would be a great investment into the region.

BBC Travel

There's no major incidents reported on the roads this evening. 

Get the latest travel news for Tyne and Wear and Teesside.        

Business Secretary Sajid Javid also clarified some support on offer for Redcar workers.

He said: 

- Employees and contractors made redundant as a result of SSI's liquidation will be able to access Jobcentre Plus' Rapid Response Service

This includes: Help with job searches including CV writing and interview skills, training, child care costs, tools, work clothes and travel costs

- Staff who are dismissed due to insolvency receive a basic minimum of the debts they are owed from the National Insurance Fund. 

This includes payments for statutory redundancy, holiday and notice pay, and arrears of wages, subject to statutory limits. 

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said: "SSI's work reviving steel making in Redcar has faced increasing challenges and this announcement came as deeply disappointing news, undoubtedly making for a tough time for the workforce and Teesside more broadly. 

"The Government cannot intervene in the liquidation process, which is now in the hands of the Official Receiver, however we are absolutely committed to helping the workforce and local economy."   

Steelworkers on Teesside have reacted angrily to the announcement from the receiver that the coke ovens and blast furnace at Redcar will now close. 

The announcement has crushed any hopes of a new buyer being found and steelmaking re-starting in the future. 

Thai owners SSI announced the "mothballing" of the plant two weeks ago.  

But this latest closure announcement appears to have signalled the end of some 170 years of iron and steel making on Teesside. 

Watch the video here. 

Sue Jeffrey, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said: "This is the worst possible news and is an absolutely heart-breaking moment for all of us. 

"Our proud history of years of steelmaking has been torn out from under us. 

"We have been so proud of our heritage and I cannot believe it has slipped away in the space of a few weeks."

Unite national officer Harish Patel said: "The hope of a buyer stepping in has been cruelly extinguished by the liquidator's haste and the Government's refusal to step in and buy more coal to keep the coke ovens alight. 

 "It is devastating news for all those whose livelihoods depend on steel making on Teesside and the hopes of a community who thought that an alternative solution could be found. 

 "The light on steelmaking on Teesside has been snuffed out by the Government's laissez faire approach which sets a dangerous precedent for an industry battling to stay afloat in the face of cheap Chinese imports and high energy costs."

Amanda Skelton, who chairs the SSI taskforce, said "A jobs fair has been organised for this Wednesday and we are expecting participation from up to 30 potential employers with hundreds of available job vacancies. 

"The taskforce is also looking at what we can do now to tackle the longer-term challenge of restructuring our local economy. 

"We want to secure sustainable jobs for current and future generations of people."      

The announcement the Redcar steel works will shut is an "absolute and utter disaster", an MP says.

Middlesbrough Labour MP Andy McDonald added: "This collapse should have been on the Government's radar a long time ago. 

Image source, Labour party

"All the signs have been there for many months. Principally the dumping of vast quantities of steel by China on the world market and, despite slowing growth in China, their own steel consumption had failed to keep pace with the growth in production made it abundantly clear that there were major problems ahead. 

"This has been known in the industry for years and has put enormous pressure on the UK steel industry."

Gareth Stace, director of trade body UK Steel, said: "This decision makes the possibility of rescue more remote. 

 "But, it reinforces the importance of this week's summit as it becomes ever more critical to bring forward solutions to ensure the whole steel sector in the UK can be put on a sustainable footing."

The chair of the SSI taskforce says news of the closure is "distressing" for the workforce, their families and the local economy.

Redcar Council chief executive Amanda Skelton said: "The SSI taskforce members are working hard to support the workforce at this very difficult time. 

"The help that has already been on hand during the last week will continue over the next weeks and months. 

"Rapid employment advice, such as help with job applications and CVs, is already in place. The financial consequences of closure will hit many families hard. That's why it's important that we're also able to give specialist money and benefits advice to everyone affected."

The Government must step in and take the Redcar steel plant into temporary public ownership, a union claims.

Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the Community union, said: "Keeping the coke ovens running and mothballing the blast furnace effectively would give Teesside steel the chance of a future. 

"A hard closure will just leave a community devastated and taxpayers picking up the cost of cleaning the site."

The government will assist with training to help businesses in Redcar recover from the news the SSI steel plant is closing, a minister says.

Business minister Anna Soubry said: "The government will continue to focus on making sure we do whatever we can to help people. 

"Our package of up to £80m will help with retraining and enable local firms to grow and create jobs. 

"We will also continue to provide the Official Receiver with the funds and support necessary to manage this situation in a safe and orderly way."  

Richard Moss
Political Editor, BBC Look North

Redcar and Cleveland Council leader Sue Jeffrey says: "Any decision around the long-term future of the SSI site should have come after the steel summit on Friday."

SSI Thailand "was never straight with the people of Redcar", the town's Labour MP claims.

Ann Turley says: "I was hearing rumours about bills not being paid.

"The inquiry I will be calling will look at how a multinational company can run up the level of debts it ran up, and yet be allowed to operate the way that they have done, keeping people hanging on, potentially not paying pension payments - these are big issues that are going to be looked into."