Conduct Of The President Of The Board Of Trade

EDM number 2036 in 1992-93, proposed by Alan Meale on 19/05/1993.

That this House notes that on 29th March the President of the Board of Trade stated in the House that 12 collieries originally announced for closure in October 1992 would benefit from a government subsidy and thereby be reprieved from closure, and that on 21st October 1992 he stated that 'no miner should be disadvantaged by the consultations on closure'; and asks the President of the Board of Trade to explain to the House why since these announcements not one extra tonne of coal has been sold by British Coal to the generator, why British Coal has been allowed to blackmail miners via the use of time limited enhanced payments for redundancy acceptances which have led directly to the closure of 17 collieries and whether he intends to live up to any of his promises, most notably that the fabric of collieries which have ceased production be maintained until such times as their futures have been decided.

This motion has been signed by a total of 59 MPs.