A regional daily has launched a fresh plea to secure the industrial future of its patch in a special edition.

The Northern Echo has run a special report examining the future of steelmaking in the North-East of England, questioning whether the region has “still got the metal” to make the industry a success.

The Darlington-based Echo’s special edition, pictured, came as the final demolition of the Redcar steelworks took place yesterday.

In 2015, the newspaper had previously launched a last-ditch bid to save the site from closure.

Looking to the future, editor Gavin Foster told HTFP: “The steel industry has and still has a huge role to play in the North-East and indeed the country in terms of its importance to the economy, delivering jobs and supporting an infrastructure for a sustainable future for the UK.

“We only have to look at Covid and the war in Ukraine to understand that international markets cannot be relied upon to deliver essential goods.

“We need to build and support an infrastructure, but that infrastructure has to cleaner, greener and look vastly different to what we traditionally know of the industry.

“But we also know this industry needs to be supported by governments and political leaders.

“This report by the Echo team was about exploring all of these issues to understand if we can still achieve and deliver this on our region, or as the headline says, have we got the metal?”