MP wants to bring back coal mining to region
A TORY MP has launched a campaign to bring coal mining back to the North East.
Richard Holden, MP for North West Durham, secured a debate in the House of Commons, after the Government refused planning permission for an opencast mine in Northumberland, which would have employed 250 people in North East of England.
He said the UK needs one million tonnes of coal a year, not to burn for electricity production as in the past but for steel manufacturing, cement manufacturing and use in the heritage rail industry.
But the country currently has net imports of coal of almost £1billion a year, much of it shipped in bulk across the globe from Russia and Columbia. Mr Holden told MPs that this did far more damage to the environment than simply mining it in the UK.
One of the last remaining coal mines in the country, Bradley near Durham, closed in August.
There are currently two potential coal mines going through planning, one deep mine in Cumbria and one at Dewley Hill in Newcastle.
Mr Holden told the House of Commons: “Coal isn’t a trendy subject, but it is an important one. Too often in our history coal and
its production have been far too political.
“My fear is that the apparent drive against domestic coal production in the United Kingdom from Whitehall is unfair, unjust and actually runs counter to what we’re actually all in favour of trying to achieve and do, which is reduce our carbon emissions.
“Coal is becoming a victim of politics again today and in doing so we’re making a mistake: economically, strategically, and crucially, environmentally.”
A common argument against coal mining is that it damages the environment. But Mr Holden said mining coal in this country would do less harm than importing it from overseas.
“Britain has a proud environmental record and our domestic coal production has some of the highest environmental standards in the world. Our opencast mines are properly dealt with and relandscaped afterwards.
“Does anyone truly believe that that’s the case in Russia or Columbia or even in the United States? And that’s before we get to the staggering quantities of CO2 emissions of shipping a bulk product halfway round the world.”
Easington Labour MP Graham Morris said the nation’s wealth “was built on coal and on the toil of miners working in dark and dangerous conditions”.
He said: “The legacy of coal in the UK should be a new, bright, clean and green future for former coalfield areas.”
But he also said it was essential to settle “historic injustices that former miners in coalfield communities still encounter”, such as the failure to hold an independent public inquiry into the 1984 clash between police and miners at Orgreave.
City of Durham Labour MP Mary Kelly Foy highlighted the closure of much of the mining industry under a previous Conservative government. She said: “People will talk about the closure of pits under previous Labour Governments, and of course that did happen, but it was the reasoning behind Margaret Thatcher’s closures and the way it was done that really did the damage: remember that she called the miners ‘the enemy within’.”