The End Of Coal? Perhaps Not Quite.

[New Judge]

Today marks the end of the widespread use of coal for industry in the UK. The last coal fired power station at Ratcliffe-on-Stour closes as does the last operational blast furnace at Port Talbot steel works:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y35qz73n8o

The UK’s normal total peak electricity demand is less than 40GW. In the first half of 2023, construction was started on 37 gigawatts (GW) of new coal power capacity in China. Their total programme of new coal plants amounts to a capacity of ten times that figure.

It is estimated that since it was first used in the UK, around 4.6bn tons of coal has been used to produce electricity. China uses that much each and every year.

Who believes phasing out the use of coal in the UK has contributed anything of any significance towards reducing global emissions?

[youngmafbog]

//Maggie shut down the coal mines mate. //

Actually labour shut down more mate.

[youngmafbog]

Mad Milliband needs sectioning.  HE will bankrupt the country (unles Rachel Thieves does it first).

Not one iota of a clue this lot, and I thought the last lot were rock bottom.

[New Judge]

“Maggie shut down the coal mines mate.”

Did she, mate? What, all of them?

In 1947, upon Nationalisation of the coal industry, there were 958 deep-level mines which transferred to NCB (i.e. government) control. Here’s a timeline of their reduction in numbers:

1947 (Labour in power) Total operating mines: 958
1951 (Conservatives took office): 896
1964 (Labour took office): 545
1970 (Conservatives took office): 293
1974 (Labour took office): 250
1979 (Conservatives, under Mrs Thatcher, took office): 219
1991 (Mrs Thatcher left office): 50
In 1995 there were 16 NCB mines remaining. These were privatised and joined 16 more which were already privately operated, making a total of 32.
1997 (Labour took office): 22
2010 (Conservatives took office): 10

So as far as closures go, 964 mines were closed between 1947 and 2010 and just 169 were closed in the 11 years of Mrs Thatcher’s tenure. Of the other 795, 357 were closed under Labour administrations. The often put about myth that the Tories (and Mrs T in particular) were solely responsible for closing the coal industry is just that – a myth. It began – under a Labour administration - as soon as the industry was nationalised and continued under later Labour governments every bit as much as it did under the Tories.

But that isn’t the issue here. Coal mined in the UK became expensive compared to that available from abroad so it made sense economically at the time to source it there. The UK power industry continued to use round 80m tons of coal pa throughout the 1980s and early 90s and it was not until the mid 1990s when demand began to tail off. If we had continued to use coal the decision to buy fit from abroad would not have made sense in terms of energy security, but since we don’t it doesn’t now matter where it might come from.

Barmaid best reflects my view (and seemingly most here). We are spending an absolute fortune (paid by taxpayers and customers, both business and domestic) with no really significant purpose. The lunatic Miliband talks of “secure energy sources” and then goes on to talk about wind and sunshine. It may have escaped his notice, but very often in the UK we have neither.