Coal mines were only shut due to Margaret Thatcher’s ‘vendetta’ – Yorkshire Post Letters

IN response to Boris Johnson’s statement that Margaret Thatcher gave us an early start in creating a greener technology by closing the coal mines. Her decision to shut the pits was taken not for any environmental considerations but out of a vindictive vendetta for the part that the miners played in bringing down Edward Heath’s Tory government.

I don’t think that hundreds of thousands of miners and their communities that were, and still are, decimated by her decision would thank her for her alleged foresight.

From: Jarvis Browning, Fadmoor, York.

WHAT a ridiculous statement from Boris Johnson claiming that Margaret Thatcher did good closing down coal mines and how this has improved our climate.

Had we kept our mines open, we would have had the best coal in the world and we might have been exporting the black gold. Alas it was not to be, very shortsighted by the then government.

Now we’re being made to be more dependent on electricity. Heaven help us if we have a total blackout in a deep mid-winter with nothing to burn.

From: Sam Willmott, Bingley.

BORIS Johnon’s crass comments about coal show that he has little idea about the extent to which the coalfield communities were neglected by past governments after the mines were closed.

You have to wonder if he can ever be taken seriously on ‘levelling up’ when his glib remarks cause offence to people who have paid a very heavy price for decades of political neglect.

From: Colin S Moore, Hamilton Drive, York.

AS Barnsley’s ever consistent Conservative Party voice, I suppose Terry Palmer must find something good in Conservative pit closures (The Yorkshire Post, August 11).

As my brother, a former miner, pointed out, Margaret Thatcher didn’t close pits because of concern about miner’s health but to replace British produce with cheaper imported coal.

Goodness knows what the health hazards were in the mines abroad where coal came from, I suspect far worse than in Britain.

From: Peter Rickaby, West Park, Selby.

BORIS Johnson as Prime Minister, is expected to get his facts right. It was Labour who created the opportunity for “climate change” analysis, not Margaret Thatcher, by closing double the number of pits than the Tories. Labour never like being reminded of this fact.

From: James Buick, Northallerton.

THE key point is not who closed the coal mines, and why, but what the current Government is going to do to level up the former coalfield communities. I hope Boris Johnson has a plan.

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