Remploy factories saved

There will be no factory closures at Remploy without ministers agreeing, the work and pensions minister Peter Hain told the labour party conference.

Hain announced a package of £555m over five years to safeguard the company’s future and to ensure no compulsory redundancies. He also said that the money would guarantee salaries and “full final salary pensions protected as well”.

Remploy staff had embarked on a month-long walk across the country to protest at the Labour party conference on Sunday. Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of Unite, told the protestors that Remploy was one of the key issues that needed to satisfactorily dealt with to win support among union members to campaign for another Labour election victory.