[Margaret Pilkington]

Cashy, I'm not sure that it would have been any different whichever political party had been in power.
While I do remember the disputes,I can't really remember the political background.....politics seemed very boring then.
I think that the market for coal had shrunk and so if the pits had been allowed to continue working then they would slowly have died out from lack of business.
I remember when I was growing up everyone had coal fires, and the coal man was a regular visitor to every street.......but modern life meant that everyone wanted the sleek lines of a teak surround and the convenience of a gas fire........so coal was given the heave ho.
Ok, maybe the Electricity generating stations still used coal, but I am sure that I read somewhere at the time that the coal was being produced far more cheaply in Poland and it was being imported.
When your product becomes outmoded or too expensive, then the industry goes to the Wall.......cotton was a similar story.
Howard and Bulloughs exported the machinery to the far east and with it went the thousands of jobs that kept Lancashire in bread and butter.

There never has been a political will to support what are seen as 'lame duck' industries(well, not for very long anyway).