COVER-UPS of Tory closure plans for the coalmining industry during the 1984-85 miners’ strike are to be debated in the Commons tomorrow.

Labour has proposed a motion condemning the lies the government and National Coal Board told — that there was no pit closures programme, when in fact a hit-list of 75 pit closures existed.

The deceit was revealed this year when Cabinet papers were released under the government’s 30-year rule, which hides sensitive government activities.

Labour’s motion calls on MPs to acknowledge “that the government at the time misled the public about the extent of its pit closure plans.”

It also focuses on “the economic legacy of the pit closure programme in coalfield communities.”

The party is hoping to get MPs to back further regeneration and support for former pit towns across Britain.

“It is now only right that Parliament recognises just how badly ministers at the time treated the coalfield communities and acknowledges the full scale of the economic legacy of the pit closure programme,” said shadow Cabinet Office minister Michael Dugher.

“The debate comes too late for so many of the miners and families in Yorkshire who saw their lives and their communities decimated after the strike.

“But that sense of injustice endures today across those coalfield communities who are still dealing with the devastating consequences of what happened.”

peterlazenby@peoples-press.com