"Coal Press Strategies" sounds harmless enough. But the content of this secret Government document is dynamite. In November, New Labour's secret strategy for managing the death throes of Britain's coal industry, and the resultant public outcry, was leaked to the press.
In a cynical, blame-shifting exercise, the Government's spin doctors drew up ways to "sell" the death of the coal industry. A step-by-step guide advised ministers how to avoid blame and public outcry.
"This document shows how to manage the media and MPs," said Ken Coates. "It cannot go on like this. People cannot be governed by such naked cynicism. Coalfield communities have made sacrifices for the Labour Party. They have gone out to vote for the Labour Party, and now that same Party is going to sit back and watch them sink. The Government maintained that it could not intervene. Of course it can."
The Government was forced to backtrack as a result of the public outcry. In part, this was generated by the disclosure of "Coal Press Strategies". The coal contracts were extended for three months, to the end of June, and with them the enhanced redundancy terms for former employees of British Coal. But this has only postponed the crisis. The pits which survive in Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire are all under threat.
Here are some extracts (in italic type) from the original secret strategy document.
". . .There is an expectation that deep-mined coal will effectively end within 10 years unless the Government intervenes to protect it by changing its environmental and energy policies. Presenting Government non-intervention is difficult since coal played such a central part in the economy for many years and has an emotional appeal to the press, particularly in the regions. . ."
The DTI's officials think the unthinkable...
". . .we need to be able to spell out why direct Government action is not feasible, as once might have been possible, since the structure of the industry was changed forever by the previous Government."
The advice is often quite shameless.
". . .Once closures are announced, we need to be able to deploy a strategy to mitigate the impact of closures. We need to be prepared to do this immediately and in as a high a profile way as possible if that were necessary. . ."
How do we dodge the big issue?
". . .Inevitably the first question would be 'Are you going to save the coal industry?' . . . A special briefing for the regional press in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire might be possible given time -- however this could be a difficult event generating more heat than light. . .an off the record briefing, perhaps limited to lobby journalists, would allow us to be more frank and keep a lower profile. . .Given a crunch statement from Mr Budge, leader writers would be hard pushed not to contrast the rump that will remain with the once crucial industry -- but hopefully would listen to the arguments and the pain for us would be short-lived."
The civil servants omit some key facts.
". . .Since the Government could be portrayed as driving the nails in the coal industry's coffin, [we] do not highlight the Government's environmental targets [which will substantially reduce coal burn at power stations]."
The Government prepared a two-phase strategy for managing the press over pit closures. The second phase set out four different lines to take, according to what actually happened. Here is one proposed answer to one possible outcome:
If Budge announces a failure of his negotiations with all three generators, and a large programme of colliery closures.
"[It is] important now that RJB makes the necessary adjustments to their capacity in an orderly way. We will be talking to RJB and each of the generators about how this can best be achieved over the next 12 months or so. It is likely to involve a sensible phasing of the closures, and efforts to absorb the tonnages that will be produced from closing mines over the interim period. . .
"The Deputy Prime Minister's initiative on former coalfield regeneration will be extended to cover the impact of these further closures in the pipeline. The unemployment rates in the travel-to-work-areas affected by the closures vary, but in general they are not the worst unemployment blackspots. Most of all the areas are eligible for regional assistance or regional investment grants. (If any of the Selby pits are earmarked for closure.) I proposed to declare Selby a Coal Closure Area and to make it eligible for regional investment grants.
Are officials at the Department of Trade and Industry revising their strategies for handling the press even now?
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