The Spectator

Who cut more coal: Thatcher or Wilson?

• From magazine issue: 14 August 2021

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Raking over the coals

Boris Johnson was attacked for claiming that Margaret Thatcher had made a headstart on cutting carbon emissions by closing coal mines. Under which government did coal production fall most?

Attlee (1945-51) +22%

Churchill/Eden/Macmillan (1951-64) -12%

Wilson (1964-70) -26%

Heath (1970-74) -25%

Callaghan (1974-79) +11%

Thatcher (1979-90) -24%

Major (1990-97) -48%

Blair/Brown (1997-2010) -63%

Cameron/May/Johnson (2010-) -89%

Source: BEIS

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