UK Government must pay for tips

THE unseemly row that has broken out between the UK and Welsh governments over who should pay to make Wales’ coal tips safe has an emotive historical precedent.

Following the Aberfan disaster in 1966, when 116 children and 28 adults were engulfed by a collapsing coal tip, the Welsh Secretary, George Thomas, insisted that part of the clean-up bill should be paid by the relief fund set up to support the bereaved families.

This was reluctantly agreed to, despite many considering the proposition a betrayal.

The money was repaid many years after.

More than half a century later the UK Government is trying to offload responsibility for making all the coal tips safe to the Welsh Government.

There is no logic or fairness in this.

The coal tips came into being before devolution when the mines were functioning. They were the responsibility of the state-owned National Coal Board.

Despite the fact that coal is a matter reserved to the UK Government under the Welsh devolution settlement, maintenance of the tips is technically a devolved responsibility.

Yet it is disingenuous for the UK Government to claim – as it does – that the Welsh Government is receiving enough funds in its Treasury block grant to pay for the clean-up.

It is only recently that the extent of the required work has become apparent, following a detailed survey.

The cost of making the tips safe is far in excess of what was envisaged. The bill will amount to £600m a year for between 10 and 15 years in Wales alone.

For the UK Government to try to browbeat the Welsh Government into paying the cost of the safety programme is an absolute disgrace and ministers in London should be ashamed of themselves.

They are expecting the Welsh Government to pay for vital work when it is the UK Government itself that has the moral responsibility to do so.

In doing so, the expectation is that cuts would need to be imposed on the Welsh NHS, schools and other public services.

This would be wholly unacceptable.

The UK Government needs to develop some historical awareness, but more importantly, compassion. It must shoulder its moral responsibility and pay for the coal tip safety programme.