Coal Industry (Hansard, 12 January 1994)

§ 11. Mr. Skinner
To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many coal mines were in production in June 1979, June 1992 and 31 December 1993.

§ Mr. Eggar
I have been informed by British Coal that there were 223 producing coal mines at the end of the financial year 1978–79, 50 in June 1992, and 22 on 31 December 1993.

§ Mr. Skinner
Is the Minister aware that when I was made redundant in Derbyshire, I had a choice of about five different pits offering work within a radious of five miles? In 1979, people made redundant in the mining industry in 171 Derbyshire had a choice of only two or three pits within a radius of 10 miles. Today, under a Conservative Government, every pit that is closed means that the miners are, almost without exception, thrown on the scrap heap of redundancy. There is no longer any choice. The answer is to stop imports of coal—especially that produced by slave labour in South Africa and Colombia. Any right hon. or hon. Member who wants evidence of that should view the film to be shown in the Grand Committee Room at 7.30 pm today about coal being produced by child labour in Colombia. I hope that all right hon. and hon. Members will attend.

§ Mr. Eggar
I had no idea that the hon. Gentleman was so keen on getting a marketing job when he retires from the House. He also forgets that in March 1964 there were 576 pits in the country, and that six years later there were 299 pits. In other words, in six years the Labour Government closed more than 270 pits. The hon. Gentleman is also plainly incorrect: no underground miners have been made compulsorily redundant by British Coal.

§ Mr. Oppenheim
Has not the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) got a cheek to complain about pit closures? Why did he not resign the Whip in the 1970s when the Labour party was closing pits by the score—

§ Madam Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman knows that that has nothing whatever to do with the Minister. Let us deal with policy matters.

§ Mr. Oppenheim
Should the hon. Gentleman not spend more of his time being concerned about those industries which use energy and about the gas industry, in which jobs would be lost if we extended further the 40 years of protection from competition from gas and imported coal which British Coal has had since the war?

§ Mr. Eggar
I agree with my hon. Friend. What is more, I wish that the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) would study the statistics more closely. He would find that there has been a significant fall in steam coal imports in the past year over the previous year.

§ Mr. Barron
Does the Minister accept that if any remaining market-tested pits are currently selling all the coal that they produce, they should not close?

§ Mr. Eggar
As the hon. Gentleman knows, the pit in his constituency is currently under development. British Coal is in active discussion with a number of private companies about the leasing and licensing of pits that it has already closed. The Government have made it clear, and the British Coal board has agreed, that it will make the pits that it closes available to the private sector.

§ Sir Michael Grylls
How many new jobs have been created in the coal closure areas in the past few years?

§ Mr. Eggar
Very large numbers of jobs have been created in that period: 84 per cent. of all people who are registered with British Coal Enterprise have found a job or a training opportunity within a year to 18 months of being registered. British Coal Enterprise has an excellent record and Opposition Members who represent mining constituencies know from their experience that that is so. It would be nice occasionally to hear some praise for British Coal Enterprise from the Opposition.

Mr. O'Neill
Will the Minister congratulate the miners and management of the Castlebridge mine in my constituency, who have just signed a four-year extension to the contract to provide coal for Longannet power station? Is that not evidence that when a generator is also responsible for distributing electricity, it is a more rational system of electricity provision in the country and a commitment to coal? The dreadful figures that the Minister has rehearsed today are in large measure due to the fact that generation and distribution of electricity have been separated and there is a dash for gas, which in Scotland has mainly not taken place, because of the close links between the coal industry and the generators and the customers for electricity.

§ Mr. Eggar
The hon. Gentleman seems to forget that there is a major gas-based electricity generating station not far from his constituency. Of course I congratulate the people, the workers and the management of Longannet on succeeding in securing that contract. We need to ensure that coal is produced throughout the United Kingdom at competitive prices and is therefore able to increase its market share and compete effectively against gas and other fuels. On that we can agree.