We shall present to the company an alternative

Michael Leahy, ISTC union

"No-one should believe that what Corus announced is a done deal," said Mr Leahy.

"We are working on a package which could save most of the jobs that Corus have said will go"

"We shall present to the company an alternative that could stem Corus's losses whilst keeping jobs and retaining the capacity which will be needed when market conditions improve," he added.

But he did not give any further details of the package.

Michael Leahy, ISTC union: steelworkers feel 'bitter and angry'

Mr Leahy also said that steelworkers felt "bitter and angry" about the job losses and did not rule out "the argument of force" if necessary to fight the proposed redundancies.

The ISTC will meet the other steel unions and the government to discuss the proposals next week.

Other unions also chimed in, urging a rethink.

"Corus must come back to the negotiating table," said Bob Shannon, national officer for the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union.

"We are putting a package of realistic proposals together over the next few days," he added.

'Resilient manufacturers'

Meanwhile, at a speech in Birmingham earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted that British manufacturing still had a strong future, despite the loss of the jobs at Corus.

Speaking to the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, the prime minister acknowledged UK manufacturing had faced "tough times" but said that manufacturers had shown remarkable resilience.

"Britain has a strong manufacturing future. But manufacturing itself is changing," Mr Blair said.

"The distinction between manufacturing and services is blurring. The terms are losing their meaning," he added.

The government has promised a programme of economic regeneration for the regions hit by the plant closures.

In Llanwern, where 1,340 jobs are set to go, a task force has been set up to prevent what it says would be "an economic disaster".

Hopes for a rethink

Labour MP Mo Mowlam, whose Redcar constituency is home to a Corus factory, said she had held talks with the company on Friday morning.

According to Mrs Mowlam, Corus is prepared to talk to the unions and other interested parties about the restructuring, and would reconsider "if in the light of these discussions they believe there are significant issues which have been overlooked".

However, she added that the company had told her that "they have been through a thorough process in analysing their business, and intend to move forward on the basis of their decision".

Both the government and the unions are desperate to find some way of scaling back the number of redundancies.

On BBC Radio 4's Today programme Stephen Byers, the trade and industry secretary, said the government would be bringing forward measures to help those areas devastated by the job cuts.

"We will move in. We will help the individuals, we will help the community through economic regeneration, new jobs being created," Mr Byers said.

What are the options?

Both the unions and the government do accept that some action needs to be taken.

Corus has been losing �1bn a year in the UK and blames over-capacity in the industry, a shrinking market for steel and the high value of the pound for its troubles.

The government has only limited incentives at hand to persuade Corus to change its mind.

It could reduce the burden of the climate change levy, which is based on the amount of fossil fuels a company uses, and falls very heavily on energy intensive industries like steel.

It could also lessen the impact of business rates on Corus.

A firm government commitment to joining the euro is another possibility, as a fresh revival of the pound could put the company at a disadvantage compared to its European competitors.

Direct subsidies are unlikely, as they would run foul of European competition rules.

If all fails, then the government will be considering how to regenerate the areas that will be laid waste by the closures of steel plants.

Local councils and agencies in these areas are already in overdrive preparing to deal with the fall-out in the jobs market.