BORIS Johnson has handed the SNP a golden ticket with his comments on Thatcher’s closure of coal mines, a former senior Labour politician has said.
The Prime Minister has refused to apologise over remarks he made yesterday while speaking to Scottish journalists.
He was asked about a timeline for transitioning away from oil and gas, when he mentioned Margaret Thatcher’s actions, saying: “We've transitioned away from coal in my lifetime.
"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."
Mr Johnson laughed as he made the comment and told journalists: “I thought that would get you going.”
READ MORE: Thatcher gave UK 'big early start' in move away from coal by closing mines, says Johnson
However his official spokesman yesterday said the PM understood the "huge impact and pain closing coal mines had in communities across the UK", but did not say he would apologise for the remarks.
Sir Davie Hamilton, former Labour MP for Midlothian and a miner of 20 years, told The Herald Mr Johnson's comments were intended to appeal to his hard-line backbenchers, but he had made a "miscalculation".
He explained: "Boris kids on he's stupid but he's not. His backbenchers have been attacking him for some time, saying he is too moderate and libertarian so this will appeal to them.
"He has made a major miscalculation this time, though. If he wants to keep the 'red wall' in the north east of England, this is not the way to go about it.
"That will offend every person who has a mining link in the north east of England, and in Scotland.
"The furthest thing from Margaret Thatcher's mind was the environment. She had no idea what the environment and climate change was about. She privatised the oil and gas sector, for goodness sake.”
READ MORE: Johnson will not apologise for 'insensitive' Thatcher coal mine remarks
Dave Anderson, who was also a miner and former Labour shadow Scottish Secretary, said Mr Johnson was an "incompetent buffoon" whose remarks would only bolster the case for Scottish independence in the eyes of the SNP.
The former MP said: "If, like me, he lived through it and he saw the after-effects of it he wouldn't be making jokes about it.
"The man is a buffoon, and he has been caught out.
"One thing this has done...every time he goes to Scotland, it's another notch for the SNP towards a break up of the union.
"Just by being there, to start with, but saying stuff like this does not help."
Dennis Canavan, former Labour MP for Falkirk for more than two decades, chairman of Yes Scotland and a trustee of the National Mining Museum of Scotland supported many miners throughout the strikes of 1984 and '85.
He told The Herald the "callous and insensitive" remarks would cause "deep offence", adding: "He does not seem to realise that he is opening old wounds. In1984-85 the miners went on strike in a desperate effort to save their industry. Margaret Thatcher used every weapon of the state to beat the miners and their families into submission and it had nothing to do with creating a greener environment.
"The entire exercise was designed to defeat and humiliate the Trade Union Movement.
"If Johnson had an ounce of decency, he would apologise to the men, women and children who were victims of one of the most vicious attacks by any government in living memory."
READ MORE: SNP MP invites 'privileged' PM to meet mining families decimated by pit closures
A No 10 spokeswoman said: "The Prime Minister recognises the huge impact and pain closing coal mines had in communities across the UK.
"During his visit to Scotland the Prime Minister pointed to the huge progress already made in the UK transitioning away from coal and towards cleaner forms of energy and our commitment to supporting people and industries on that transition, including through initiatives like the North Sea transition deal.
"Our ten point plan - which is part of the PM’s mission to level up across the country - will mobilise £12 billion of UK Government investment to create and support up to 250,000 highly-skilled green jobs in the UK."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel