HUNDREDS of steel workers near Glasgow are at the centre of a multi-billion pound buyout by industrialists from Switzerland and are expected to be told their fate by Easter.

But it was business as usual today for the Dalzell mill, in Motherwell, and the Clydebridge plant, at Cambuslang, which supplied steel plates during the construction of the luxury cruise liners Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and the QE2.

A question mark sits over the future of both Lanarkshire sites after it emerged that the Geneva-based Klesch Group want to splash out billions to buy up the Long Products Division of Indian manufacturing giant Tata Steel.

The division includes both Scottish plants and others at Scunthorpe and Teesside, as well as an engineerng workshop in Workington and a rail consultancy in York.

Due diligence, which could take up to six months, is now being carried out by the Swiss industrialists after Tata chiefs signed a Memorandum of Under- standing as reported in later editions of last night's Evening Times. However, Tata has recently invested £16m on upgrades at Clydebridge and Dalzell, which have a combined workforce of around 400.

And one senior management insider insisted: "It's business as usual. We plan to showcase our best side to try to persuade Klesch to buy us. Steel orders globally are picking up and we hope to bring more work in.

"We don't see this as a potential asset strip. If that was the agenda Klesch could buy steel operations in Spain and close them down. It would be a lot cheaper than buying us. I know we have the potential to grow and I like to think Klesch know that, too."

Local management met shop stewards yesterday morning before Tata went public with news of a possible sale.

Motherwell and Wishaw MP Frank Roy called on the UK and Scottish Governments to intervene. He said the announcement was 'a major blow to those working at Dalzell and Clydebridge Steelworks.'

He said: "I have profound concerns about what this will mean for the future of the UK steel industry. I am also deeply concerned and disappointed that despite a previously good working relationship, Tata Steel excluded the trade unions from this decision."

gordon.thomson@eveningtimes.co.uk