MARK Jenkinson MP has asked Sir Keir Starmer and the leader of Cumberland Council to put on record their support for West Cumbria’s new coking coal mine.
The call comes amid claims that Labour would scrap the job-creating project altogether, were they to get into power following the General Election.
Speaking on Politics North on Sunday, Labour frontbencher Alex Cunningham MP, said the colliery was “not going to happen”, adding: “We’ll be in government before they get to that stage, and believe you me – we will not allow that project to go ahead”.
Mark Jenkinson, MP for Workington, together with Andrew Johnson, Conservative Candidate for Whitehaven and Workington, have now written to Sir Keir Starmer and Councillor Mark Fryer asking them to confirm theirs and the party’s official position.
In the letter to Sir Keir, Mark Jenkinson and Andrew Johnson wrote: “Here in Cumberland, from the Labour council that you championed after the May 2022 elections, all our constituents have seen is more of the same managed decline.
"The picture we see whenever Labour is in power at any level is the same: opposition to Conservative government investment. Locally, we have seen the cancellation of regeneration projects like the Maryport swimming pool and the refusal to date to spend record government funding intended for resurfacing our local roads or supporting our bus services.
“All the while they presided over huge disruption to our bin services, refusing to pay workers in Allerdale the same as those in Copeland and Carlisle. They also hiked up council tax by some of the highest levels in England, while awarding themselves pay rises amounting to increases up to 210%.
"Here is your opportunity repair some of the damage they have done, and to show the residents of West Cumbria that you and the Labour Party are on their side. You can put on record your support for the Woodhouse colliery project by responding to his letter."
Back in December of last year, before Cumberland Council took charge, Councillor Fryer wrote an opinion piece with Ed Miliband describing the mine as “a betrayal of current and future generations”.
Councillor Fryer also said that the mine “is the equivalent of putting 2 million cars on the road every year”, a claim which Mr Jenkinson described as “demonstrably false”.
When quizzed about the mine in a meeting of the full council in November, he stopped short of giving his support to the project.
