Emotional workers in dusty orange overalls and hard hats were cranked hundreds of metres to the surface of the Kellingley Colliery in Yorkshire for the last time, some of them embracing and others shaking hands.
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Ms Cooper said: “This is a sad day for all of us to see the last working pit in Britain close – especially after we have fought for two years to keep it open”.
But as the 450 miners who worked at the pit left with statutory redundancy and severance packages, unions and opposition MPs accused the Government of failing to support the workers.
“Everything spread from the pit”, said Andy Smith, acting director of the National Coal Mining Museum, which plans to put the last ton of coal from Kellingley on display.
“It’s a worse deal than they would have got under Margaret Thatcher”.
He said: “What people don’t realise is that there are 5.5 million people living in these communities and these are some of the 30 per cent most deprived in the country, who continue to suffer from ill health, unemployment and a skills shortage”.
“Certainly when I’ve gone in, my visits have been appreciated”.
Kellingley began production in 1965, and its closure will complete a two-year closure plan for the UK’s deep mines.
In a statement, the firm said: “This is a historic moment but also one which will have a real impact on those who work at Kellingley, their families and the wider community”.
Miners from the pit will join a march in nearby Knottingley on Saturday to mark the closure.
The closure of the pit today marks the end of deep coal mining in the United Kingdom and an end of an era for Yorkshire’s coal communities.
After the end of the Second World War there were nearly 1,000 collieries employing up to a million miners, making the industry a powerhouse and major employer in communities across Britain.
“I feel gutted, like everybody else”, another miner, Tony Carter, 52, said in the day before the closure. “I feel completely let down”.
“Some of the miners have already found alternative employment, some of the miners are going to retire, some of the miners are looking for jobs”, coal mine manager Shaun McLoughlin said.
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Underground coal mining has become unprofitable in Britain, however, because of fierce competition from cheaper markets such as Colombia and Russian Federation, falling domestic demand and a government drive away from carbon-intensive coal power generation.
