Humiliated Heseltine sticks to closures Slow motion death for pits

PHOTO: Andrew Wiard Heseltine - in a political minefield Monday statement made clear what his new plan for the miners is - slow motion death for the coal industry rather than instant death. Ten pits will close after a pefunctory 'review and the others will be subject to a further enquiry. The chances of any of the pits escaping closure are minimal. At one level the government's new statement amounts to a political climbdown and embarassment. But government discomfort will not save the pits. The reason for the changes in the closdown plans are obvious; Heseltine is attempting to do the minimum amount necessary to scrape a Heseltine and Major say that majority in the Commons. Heseltine says that the redundancy payments for sacked miners - up to £37,000 - are generous when tens of thousands of other workers are losing their jobs without nearly so much compensation. But in today's conditions redundancy payments, for many just a few thousand pounds, will be useless when another job is impossible to find. And Heseltine didn't see the irony in admitting that tens of thousands are being thrown on the scrapheap by Tory policies. 'there is no economic alternative' to the closure of the pits. But no one who knows the real cost of the investment needed to change to gas-fired power stations believes the so-called 'economic argument. It is absolutely obvious that coal mined in Britain is amongst the cheapest deepmine coal in the world, and that the Tories have been determined to destroy the coal industry in order to smash the organised strength of the miners. Immediate reaction to Heseltine's statement in the coalfields was unanimous; there was no euphoria at the Printed by Tridant Press, Edenbridge, Kent. Published by Idolrare Ltd, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU pits that had been 'saved' among miners or their families. Everyone knows that any reprieve is temporary and the Tories are determined to crush the industry. If Heseltine's statement partially defuses backbench Tory revolt, it must not be allowed to defuse the mass campaign against pit closures. That campaign will continue; it can be the springboard for uniting the struggles of tens of thousands workers threatened with the sack - if the labour movement seizes this opportunity to turn the Tories' tactical retreat into a rout.