Country will ‘regret’ closing mines

AN Oldham Euro-MP has branded the 1990s decision to close the North-West’s coal mines as “a tragic mistake”.

Chris Davies poured scorn on the closure of the region’s last deep coal mine — Parkside Colliery, near St Helen’s — in 1993 as he claims it had decades of reserves remaining.

Britain still gets 35 per cent of its electricity from coal, most of it now imported.

The development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is expected to reduce the consequences for climate change from the burning of coal. The Liberal Democrat told the annual conference of The Coal Authority in Manchester that seven CCS demonstration projects across Europe, including at least one in the UK, would be given a pledge of financial support by the European Commission within three months.

But Mr Davies added: “Coal will be a source of power for many years to come, and we will come to regret being so reliant on imported sources when there is so much of it still beneath our feet.”