The Tory government has approved the UK's first coal mine in 30 years in Cumbria against widespread anger from green campaigners. UK Government minister Michael Gove gave the green light to the controversial scheme which will dig up coking coal for steel production in the UK and across the world.
Critics - ranging from environmentalists, scientists and even some Conservative MPs - say it will shatter the UK's reputation as a global climate leader. The project was put on hold last year ahead of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow amid expert warnings it would increase the UK's carbon emissions.
Supporters of the site, near Whitehaven in Cumbria, insist it will create jobs and reduce the need to import coal. But tonight, environmental charities blasted the move as a "deeply damaging mistake" - while the Scottish Greens said it was "reckless climate vandalism".
Tony Bosworth, campaigner for Friends of the Earth campaigner said: "Approving this mine is a misguided and deeply damaging mistake that flies in the face of all the evidence. The mine isn’t needed, will add to global climate emissions, and won’t replace Russian coal."
Greenpeace UK Policy Director Doug Parr said: "The UK government risks becoming a superpower in climate hypocrisy rather than climate leadership. How can we possibly expect other countries to rein in fossil fuel extraction when we're building new coal mines here?
"Worse still, this mine will do absolutely nothing for the UK’s energy security since the coal it contains can only be used for steelmaking, not generating power, and more than 80 per cent of it is earmarked for sale in Europe anyway.”
Tom Fyans, interim chief exec at countryside charity CPRE, said: "Instead of grasping the opportunity to lead the world in a clean and green industrial revolution, here we are clinging onto the dirty coal that powered and poisoned the Victorian era. This shameful decision beggars belief."
The Scottish Government announced in October it was opposed to any new coal extraction. Tonight, Green MSP Mark Ruskell - whose party is in a governing agreement with the SNP at Holyrood - said: "This Tory government has just bulldozed a Westminster-sized hole into the UK’s net zero commitments.
"There is no sense in this reckless climate vandalism. It will have a devastating impact for years to come. The science doesn’t lie, to escape global catastrophe we have to stop drilling for coal, for oil and for gas. This announcement is the exact opposite of everything that we should be doing."
And he claimed Westminster's approval of the mine raised "serious constitutional questions" given the Holyrood government's stance. Ruskell continued: "The climate crisis doesn’t respect borders. If our house is on fire, your house is on fire. If our air is polluted, your air is polluted. By pushing ahead the UK Government risks not just the health of those in England, but people all across the UK."
Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel and produces nearly twice the emissions of natural gas. The West Cumbria Mining project could release as much pollution as putting 200,000 extra cars on UK roads, analysis by the Green Alliance think tank claimed.
Lord Deben, chairman of the UK's expert independent body of climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee, has branded the proposal "utterly indefensible". But in a letter outlining the decision, the UK Government said Gove agreed with the recommendation from local planning authorities to approve the mine.
It said Gove - who is the Communities and Levelling Up Secretary - was "satisfied that there is currently a UK and European market for the coal". And the letter added he agreed the effects on the UK's carbon emissions "would be relatively neutral and not significant".
Other top Tories backed the move, with ex-party chairman Jake Berry branding the decision "good news for the North and for common sense". However, senior Conservative figures including ex-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and COP President Alok Sharma have argued against the mine, saying it conflicts with the country's climate goals.
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