A FLINTSHIRE lord has spoken of the importance of Britain's steel industry.

Lord Barry Jones made the comments in a speech at the House of Lords recently.

He said: "Steel is a foundation industry. Today, it is in very shaky condition.

"Surely it should not be on the brink of being eroded away.

"This national industry should not be the creature of sleight of hand, of chance, of boardroom ambition or of money.

"A great nation requires a sound steel industry.

"Shorn of steel, Britain would quickly be of less consequence in the eyes of its international partners and rivals.

"Today, Britain's steel industry survives largely on the South Wales cost, on the North-East coast and in my homeland of Welsh Flintshire.

"When the smokestacks fell in the late 1970s and early 1980s, redundancies rained down on our busy, prosperous steel communities.

"For example, unemployment in some of the Shotton steelworks communities reached 20 per cent or more.

"Huge sacrifices were made by many thousands of good people.

"What remains there at Shotton is leading-edge and profitable.

"Let us remember that, in yesteryear, these steel communities helped us defeat both the Kaiser and the Fuhrer.

"They deserve the best of outcomes and their industry should be prioritised.

"Our remaining manufacturing needs more research grants, better prepared school levers, more effective world-class skilling and ever more enhanced links with our universities."