Coal Mines: Fury as PM says Thatcher gave UK ‘early start’ in battling climate change by closing pits

There was anger as the PM said that ex-PM Margaret Thatcher gave the UK a “big early start” in its battle against climate change when she closed coal mines in the 1980s.

It comes as he insisted Cambo oil and gas field contracts cannot be torn up, which environmental groups have said are totally against the government’s supposed green strategy.

He made the comment during a visit to Scotland.

“Look at what we’ve done already. We’ve transitioned away from coal in my lifetime,” he said.

“Thanks to Margaret Thatcher, who closed so many coal mines across the country, we had a big early start and we’re now moving rapidly away from coal altogether.”

According to the Daily Record, the prime minister laughed when he made the reference to Mrs Thatcher, whose time in Downing Street featured the miners’ strike of 1984-5.

Cambo oil and gas field

His comments come as Boris Johnson has insisted that “we can’t just tear up contracts” as campaigners urged him to block the drilling of oil and gas from the seabed near Shetland.

The UK Government could approve proposals for fossil fuel extraction from the Cambo oil field ahead of the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow this year.

Original licensing for fossil fuel exploration at the site – located in the North Atlantic to the west of the Shetland Islands – was initially approved in 2001.

If given the go-ahead for full extraction by the UK Government, a further 150-170 million barrels are due to be drilled from the site, which is expected to operate until 2050.

But more than 80,000 people have now signed a petition delivered to Downing Street, demanding the Prime Minister stop the development and block any extraction of fossil fuels given the climate crisis and pledges to reduce carbon emissions.

Mr Johnson was challenged about the situation during a visit to an offshore wind development in the Moray Firth.

The Prime Minister told broadcasters: “This was a contract that was signed in… was agreed in 2001 and we can’t just tear up contracts, there is a process to be gone through.

“But what we need to do is use this incredible potential of wind power, and turbines like this… they’ve only been going up in the last four or five years, the size that you’re looking at now, and they’re going to get even bigger.

“So the potential is absolutely enormous. We can power millions and millions of homes across the UK.”