Coalfield communities won a victory, in February, when the Government was forced to make a u-turn over miners' concessionary coal. But that isn't the end of the story. The very fact that New Labour tried to steal our pensioners' coal shows that they have no sympathy for our people. MPs were flooded with letters, phonecalls and visits from retired miners and their widows who had been told they would lose up to 14 bags of concessionary coal under the new scheme.
The New Labour Government said that it had to cut these fuel allowances because of European regulations. Now it is clear that this is not so. The Prime Minister made a u-turn at Question Time on Wednesday 11th February.
In spite of this, many of those widows and pensioners who had filled in the forms were surprised to receive deliveries of substandard fuel, as if the u-turn had never been made. When they complained, it was admitted that a mistake had been made, and they were told that the sub-standard coal could be taken away on payment of a charge of £30. More pressure was needed to get this charge cancelled and the original consignments restored.
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