Clegg accused of deliberately misleading Commons over Forgemasters

Deputy PM Nick Clegg

Two Labour backbenchers have complained to the parliamentary standards watchdog, alleging Nick Clegg deliberately misled the House on the reasons for the cancellation of the loan to Sheffield Forgemasters, according to the Financial Times.

Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North, and Rachel Reeves, MP for Leeds West, have written to John Lyon, parliamentary commissioner for standards, claiming that Mr Clegg has knowingly misled MPs and tried to cover it up.

The claim relates to the Deputy Prime Minister’s assertion that Forgemasters shareholders had refused to dilute their shares to raise money. Mr Clegg has since admitted his mistake, but has yet to apologise to the house for this error, more of which here.

According to the FT, the letter reads:

“We believe that the Rt Hon member for Sheffield Hallam has misled the House. We believe that he did this knowingly.

“We consider that he has failed to take any opportunity to correct the record or to apologise to the House and that a serious contempt over an issue of considerable political importance has therefore been committed.”

A spokesperson for Mr Clegg has dismissed the complaint as “just another example of Labour MPs playing politics with the interests of Sheffield Forgemasters instead of facing up to the fact that it was the financial irresponsibility of the previous Labour government which made the loan unaffordable”
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Scriven faces calls for resignation over Forgemasters

Sheffield City Council met today to debate the Forgemasters loan and the interim budget

Lib Dem council leader Paul Scriven faced calls for his resignation today, during a debate on the council’s handling of the Sheffield Forgemasters loan.

But Cllr Scriven says that Forgemasters executives welcome Vince Cable’s recent statement on the matter, and are positive about a review of the loan in the Autumn.

Councillor Bryan Lodge called directly for the Leader’s resignation, saying he had let down the 10,000 people who had signed a petition against the cancellation of the loan. “When will you do the honorable thing and resign, so we can have a member of your party who is a proper leader who will represent and stand up for Sheffield? Do it now.”

Cries of “resign” were also heard in the council chamber as Labour Cllr Harry Harpham requested an apology from Cllr Scriven for making “false and unfounded” excuses to justify the decision.

In a previous meeting of the council, Cllr Scriven echoed Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s allegation that Forgemasters shareholders had been unwilling to raise cash by diluting their share holdings. Mr Clegg admitted that this allegation was not true in a recent letter to Forgemasters’ Chief Executive Dr Graham Honeyman.

Questions were also asked about Cllr Scriven’s handling of the situation prior to the decision being taken to cancel the loan.

The council agreed on 7th June, ten days before the Forgemasters loan was cancelled, to write to Business Secretary Vince Cable outlining the importance of the investment. It has since emerged that the letter was not sent until 25th June, a week after the decision had been announced.

Acting Labour group leader Cllr Bryan Lodge, said “I call on members in this chamber of all parties to look at this and ask why this council did not write until after the decision was taken. Why did it take three weeks, and where is your support for Sheffield business and standing up for the people of this city?”

Lib Dem Cllr Mark Reynolds dismissed concerns over the lateness of the letters as “trivial.”

Labour Cllr Tony Damms said “We’re proud of our steel heritage in Sheffield. Given the chances and given the tools to do the job, we can make anything out of steel in this city. We’ve got a proud heritage, a proud past. And what Nick Clegg and the ConDems are doing is denying us a proud future.”

He also called for Mr Clegg to attend a public meeting to explain the reasons behind the decision.

“People don’t understand,” he said, “and I feel that some people in this chamber hope that by ignoring this issue it will go away. Well it isn’t going anywhere. ”

Cllr Scriven accused the Labour group of trying to “make cheap party political points” out of the issue.

He drew the council’s attention to a letter he has received from Graham Honeyman, Chief Executive of Sheffield Forgemasters. In the letter, Mr Honeyman welcomes the statement made by Mr Cable yesterday, in which he said that the decision may be reviewed in the autumn when the availability of public money “becomes clearer”.

In the letter, Mr Honeyman goes on to ask the council, across political boundaries, “to welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment, and give support for the company and that future review.”

Lib Dem Cllr Ian Aukland warned that the ongoing debate on the issue could have a detrimental effect on the business. “Forgemasters is a world class business.” He said, “We are in danger of making the world out there who are not following this in detail think there is a problem with Forgemasters, and there isn’t.”

Video: “Nick Clegg is not welcome in Sheffield” – City responds to emergency budget

Hundreds gathered outside Sheffield Town Hall this afternoon to protest against the public sector cuts outlined in the coalition government’s first budget.

Doug Patterson of Unite recieved the warmest welcome of the day, canonised for his ongoing battle to reverse the governments decision to withdraw their £80m loan to Sheffield Forgemasters.

Sheffield Labour Party Chair Paul Wood recieved a frostier reception, and was heckled by activists in the crowd for New Labour’s centrism. A message from Labour MP for Sheffield South East Clive Betts was read out to a murmur of boos, although Central MP Paul Blomfield’s message was better recieved.

Constant throughout the speeches was a sense of betrayal. A feeling that Nick Clegg, once the golden boy of Sheffield, has sold the north down the river, to the extent that Patterson declared him persona-non-grata in the Steel City. A further demonstration outside his Eccleshall constituency home has been mooted, but as I understand it it’s pretty hard to catch him in these days.

Lib Dem council leader Paul Scriven, who has been on telly an awful lot this weekend loyally defending the coalition’s actions, did not attend the protest.

In other news, fresh faced education minister Michael Gove will be opening a new building near the Peace Gardens on Thursday afternoon at 1pm. I’d be surprised if he didn’t recieve a warm, Sheffield welcome.