The future of Teesside’s steel manufacturing past : closure, loss and recognising heritage

The past decade has heralded seismic shifts in the industrial, social and political fabric of Britain’s steel communities. With many of the former steel manufacturing heartlands switching political allegiances to the Conservatives in the 2019 General Election the traditional alignment with the Labour Party has seemingly diminished, not least in the former industrial heartlands of the Tees Valley whose very essence has been shaped by the iron and steel industries of the area. The shift in political alignment has coincided with, and been informed by, the decline of steel manufacturing: in 2015 Teesside Steelworks, then owned by the Thai Company SSI, closed for the final time.