Councillors from Scotland, England and Wales will meet at the National Mining Museum Scotland, where members of the Industrial Communities Alliance (ICA) will discuss issues currently facing the steel, power and energy intensive industries across the country.

They will also look to develop a document calling for a UK wide industrial strategy to tackle the fundamental imbalances in the economy.

Other items on the agenda include providing financial aid to businesses and a fairer distribution of Lottery funding.

Warrington Council leader Terry O’Neill, chair of the ICA, said: “We are delighted to be in Midlothian to address some of the serious challenges which are affecting industry and manufacturing at the moment. Over the past few months there have been questions hanging over the steel industry and the power supply sector, and other major traditional industries could follow.

“What we need is government to take heed of the need for a coherent industrial strategy to ensure this country’s industrial base is not further weakened. The Industrial Strategy Paper that we will be discussing on Friday will hopefully be a constructive contribution to that debate.”