Statement on British Steel and West Cumbria Mining
Mike Starkie, former Mayor of Copeland, has released the following statement today.
"How ironic that a matter of a few weeks after the Labour Government finally took the idiotic decision to not allow the West Cumbria Mine, the demand for coal is hitting the headlines.
The West Cumbria Mine should have by now been constructed and fully operational after being granted planning permission six years ago.
A mixture of the inept handling of the application and in many instances deliberate obstruction by the Labour led Cumbria County Council along with the eco lobbyists resulted in the whole process becoming protracted until the new Labour Government and their suicidal net zero nonsense killed off the project, to pursue Ed Miliband's mad green agenda.
We have this week witnessed the Labour Party in a last-minute scramble to save British Steel at Scunthorpe and having to ship coal in to keep the furnaces going from halfway around the World (without it seems any consideration of the environmental impact that so obsesses Red Ed).
If the West Cumbria Mine had been operational as it should have been it could have transported the coal required in about three hours by train.
The claim that the coal from Whitehaven would be too high in sulphur content is just another fabrication pedalled by those trying to justify the ridiculous decision by the Labour Government not to allow this mine to open.
In terms of British Steel at Scunthorpe which is now being run by a Labour Government that you could not trust to run a bath. You have to worry for its medium to long term future.
It was losing £700,000 per day under Chinese Management and those losses have now been transferred to the UK taxpayer, which is not sustainable even in the medium term.
There is only one way that there can be any future for British Steel Scunthorpe. That is for the Labour Government to sack Ed Miliband and abandon immediately its lunatic net zero policies and scrap at once its insane green taxes and carbon credits which would enable them to slash energy costs which are currently the highest in Europe because of these crazy green policies.
In an ever-uncertain World this government rapidly needs to change course starting with the abandonment of net zero. We need to extract all the gas and oil from the North Sea, reconsider fracking and press ahead with small modular reactors at pace and hopefully locate some of them here at Sellafield.
The government absolutely needs to reconsider its position on West Cumbria Mine and approve it at the earliest opportunity.
West Cumbria Mine could and was always intended support the British Steel Industry.
Despite some of the ridiculous comments from the Labour MP for Whitehaven/Workington, when he said “the coal from Whitehaven being only for export is another reason why the mine is not a good project for Whitehaven” it was among his most ludicrous.
Even if it was an export-only business it would still be a great asset that would massively boost the economy and create jobs in West Cumbria and be good for UK PLC and all from private investment.
Maybe he could explain why he would think export-led businesses funded by private investment that create jobs and prosperity in the regions in which they operate is anything but a good thing.
I fully understand that there are people who are of the opinion that they are against the opening of the mine and I absolutely respect their right to their own opinion and to voice it.
The MP for Whitehaven/Workington comments that West Cumbria Mine was only a fantasy business that was never going to happen displays a level of ignorance, arrogance and stupidity I have rarely witnessed from anyone in such a position.
West Cumbria Mine unlike any other private investor in recent times have displayed a real commitment to our community having spent more than ten years and financially invested upwards of £35m trying to deliver a project. Only to be blocked by the Labour Government.
It is both insulting and disrespectful to the investors, employees and constituents who support it to make such a stupid comment particularly when you consider it was virtually unanimously approved three times by the planning authority, recommended for approval by the independent planning inspector after a long and detailed public enquiry and approved by the previous government.
MacAlister’s childish comment was insensitive and lacked empathy to his own constituents who have supported this mine in large numbers as well as sending a dreadful message to other potential future investors into West Cumbria.
Sadly, we are all learning quickly what many local Labour activists warned when he appeared from nowhere.
When you have a parachuted in an MP with no connection to the area and no stake in the community they represent, who is only interested in being compliant to the Labour leaders who can help him achieve his own personal ambitions. What is good for his constituency will always come a distance second to what his good for him.
During my two terms of office, I worked with both a Labour and Conservative MP.
What I can say with absolute certainty is that both of them were committed to Copeland first and foremost because as people who were born here, still live here, their parents, their children and Grandchildren live here, to both of them Copeland matters and what happens here impacts both them and those closest to them.
For our current MP as he has clearly demonstrated, West Cumbria is just a means to his own ends."
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