MP tables motion in Parliament calling for Cumbria coal mine plans to be axed

Cumbrian MP Tim Farron has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) in Parliament calling on the Government to ditch plans for a new deep coal mine in Cumbria.

The EDM warns that the building of the new mine jeopardises the UK's goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and implores the Government to incentivise steel manufacturers to adopt and innovate low-carbon production methods, including hydrogen direct reduction and electric arc technology.

The motion, which has attracted cross-party support so far from Liberal Democrat, Green, SNP and Plaid Cyrmu MPs, also urges the Government "to utilise Cumbria's boundless renewable resources of water, wind and solar to generate sustainable jobs and sustainable energy as part of a Green Industrial Revolution".

Tim said: "Everyone knows that the building of this new coal mine here in Cumbria is an almighty backwards step in our fight against climate change.

"The Government's Committee on Climate Change has warned that the mine will undermine the UK's carbon reduction targets, and Boris Johnson's own climate tsar Alok Sharma is said to have been 'apoplectic' that the Government have given this the go ahead.

"Opening a coal mine which produces 8 million tonnes of CO2 every year is a betrayal of younger and future generations who will have to live with the devastating environmental effects of it for decades to come.

"If the Government cares about protecting the environment and showing international climate leadership in the year that we host COP26, it must stop the building of this mine."