British Coal And Privatisation

EDM number 1403 in 1992-93, proposed by Jack Thompson on 16/02/1993.

That this House congratulates the Northumbrian miners employed at Ellington Colliery upon their achievements in producing 2.25 million tonnes of coal in the last financial year, providing the British people with a profit of ú7 million, and a projected ú5 million profit in the current year: but deplores the proposal to introduce even more contract work into the mine, which now extends beyond specialist tasks into coal production, by the offer from British Coal to lease a block of coal in the mine to Caledonian Mining Company, who intend to extract the coal using their own equipment and manpower, a direct threat to British Coal employees; and considers this to be a slur upon the abilities of Ellington Colliery's miners, whose efforts are beyond reproach, and an attempt to partially privatise the mine before Parliament considers the issue.

This motion has been signed by a total of 66 MPs.