Tory backlash over Cumbrian coal mine U-turn

Is there a clash between the government’s plans to achieve Net Zero and its aspirations to level up parts of the North and Midlands? It certainly seems that way, after the Planning Secretary Robert Jenrick last night U-turned and launched an inquiry into the construction of a new coal mine in Cumbria, which would provide coal for the construction of steel. His decision to ‘call in’ the planning application came after the US climate envoy John Kerry told the BBC this week that ‘coal is not the future’.

Jenrick’s decision has exposed a rift in the Tory party, between a government keen to make a success of the UN climate summit, COP26, held in Glasgow later this year, and backbench MPs fighting for the North and Midlands to be ‘levelled up’. Several Tory MPs have publicly supported the coal mine, pointing out that it will create at least 500 jobs in Whitehaven, an area that desperately needs investment and a diversification of its economy.