Thirty years ago the National Union of Mineworkers led Britain’s working class in a life-or-death struggle to save our mining industry.

Now the union is providing a £4 million loan to keep one of the last deep coalmines in the country operational.

It is not just the 500 workers at Hatfield colliery who will benefit from the NUM’s action. Once again it is Britain’s miners, and not its government, who are standing up for the long-term interests of the country.

Right-wing pundits in the national media like to present the 1984-5 miners’ strike as a lost cause and the destruction of the industry as a foregone conclusion.

But 30 years on, Britain is still dependent on burning coal. Coal-fired power stations produce 39 per cent of our electricity — more than any other source.

Over 60 million tons of the stuff were consumed in this country last year. 

And thanks to Thatcher’s self-serving closure of the mines — planned not for any economic reason but to break the power of organised labour — we are forced to import nearly 50m tons.

Some comes from the United States, where stocks are dwindling due to a shift towards shale gas obtained by hydraulic fracturing.

Some comes from Colombia, where workers’ rights are trampled on by the state and where more trade unionists are killed for daring to organise workforces than in any other country.

And more comes from Russia, whose relations with Britain are far from rosy following Westminster’s enthusiastic support for the fascist-backed regime in Ukraine and sabre-rattling in eastern Europe.

The Con-Dem coalition prattles about energy security — but has refused to lift a finger to save our coalmines, preferring to flirt with dangerous and unpopular experiments in fracking.

Ministers are ready to extend a £10m loan to UK Coal for a “managed closure” of the Kellingley and Thoresby pits, but won’t spend a penny on keeping mines open.

Their bone-headed stance speaks volumes about the petty spite at the heart of government.

Tory toffs brought up to worship Thatcher and their Lib Dem lackeys, heirs to the Social Democrats whose betrayal of Labour granted her the parliamentary majorities she needed to wreck British industry, are determined to view miners as the enemy.

Britain cannot afford such small-mindedness. Thanks to carbon capture and storage, clean coal is now a reality. 

Alongside renewables, it will form an essential part of what the Trades Union Congress has termed the “green reindustrisalisation” of Britain, providing us with a reliable energy source whose price does not fluctuate wildly with international markets.

The NUM is to be commended for its action to save Hatfield colliery, but it should not be necessary.

Hatfield Trust chairman John Grogan calls on the government to step up to the mark and invest to secure the pit’s future. 

It should do so — and the Labour Party should assure the NUM that an Ed Miliband administration will take a longer view than the Con-Dems and support an industry which is vital to this country’s future.