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MIners' leader in final plea to save Britain's last deep-pit coalmines

MINERS’ leader Chris Kitchen made a final plea yesterday for MPs not to repeat Thatcher’s tragic "mistakes" by allowing Britain’s last two deep-pit coalmines to close.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) general secretary told the Commons energy select committee that the industry could have a bright future.

He asked MPs not to “make the same mistake” as the ex-Tory PM by putting skilled men on the dole, making a desert of communities and risking Britain’s energy security.

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