GWENT MP Llew Smith (pictured) launched another blistering attack on steel firm Corus last night, after the company announced an operating loss of well over £200 million.

And the radical Labour left-winger branded the Anglo-Dutch firm's take-over of the former British Steel plant a "disaster".

Mr Smith, MP for Blaenau Gwent, said: "In all my dealings with them I got the impression that their understanding and commitment to the industry was nil.

"I said then, and I'll say it now, that we haven't got a steel industry in the UK after Corus stepped in - they have been a disaster."

In January, Mr Smith was among the steel area MPs who hit out at Corus at the time of the announcement of more than 2,000 Gwent redundancies.

In a debate in Parliament's Westminster Hall, he labelled Corus bosses "fat cat executioners".

At that time two former Corus bosses were said to have been given payouts of between £1m and £2m.

Mr Smith said in the debate: "To Mr Moffat (chairman Sir Brian Moffat) and his board of executioners... it will be a price worth paying if it safeguards their necks and their executive share options."

Mr Smith last night said he believes the losses announced yesterday represent an insignificant amount when compared to the payouts given to prominent shareholders when Corus first stepped into the British steel industry.

He said: "If you think of the losses they have announced, it is nothing compared to the £700 million they have handed out to shareholders the day the company was formed. "Now the senior shareholders have become very rich and have lined their pockets, but in the process they have gone a long way in destroying the steel industry."

Corus' pre-tax losses for the last half-year were £230 million, against a loss of £27 million the previous year.

Corus chairman Sir Brian Moffat blamed the losses on the slowdown in the economic market.

Sir Brian said: "Against this background, the market for carbon steel was dominated by the adverse impact of over supply in the face of the progressive weakening of demand." It was on the back of this slump in the carbon steel market that the company announced in February that it was axing over 2,000 jobs at steelworks in Gwent.

Over half of the workforce at the Llanwern plant in Newport were axed, with the loss of 1,340 jobs. Steelmaking at the plant ended this summer.

The tinplate works in Ebbw Vale are to close with the loss of nearly 780 jobs.