§ 24. Mr. Nabarroasked the Minister of Fuel and Power the nature and contents of communications received from the National Union of Mineworkers, protesting against the continuance of opencast coal mining.
§ Mr. P. Noel-BakerI have had no such communication from the National Union of Mineworkers.
§ Mr. NabarroIn view of that reply, can the Minister say what justification he had two weeks ago last Saturday, when, addressing 20,000 miners at Rotherham, he was reported to have said that the farmers hate opencast coal mining, the miners hate it, and the Government hate it most of all? Why did he say that the miners hate it?
§ Mr. Noel-BakerBecause, just as I sometimes have private conversations with the hon. Member, so I have private conversations with miners, who tell me that they do not like opencast mining but realise, unlike the hon. Member, that we have to have the coal.