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BRITISH Coal and ScottishPower are understood to be on the verge of a
deal that would extend the guaranteed life of the Longannet mining
complex from its present two to five years.
As colliers marched through London yesterday in protest at the
Government's ''rescue'' plan -- which will mean the early demise of 10
pits and the almost certain closure of up to 19 others over the next
year or two -- Scotland's dwindling band of miners were hoping for an
extension of the deal under which British Coal is due to provide
ScottishPower with at least two million tonnes a year for the next two
years.
They hope the rundown of the Scottish coal industry is now over and
that new coal washery facilities at Longannet, additional exports of
power ''by wire'' to England, and proposed new cables to Northern
Ireland, will mean a rosy future for the rump of the Scottish coal
industry.
Even so, some 140 colliers and pit deputies have just taken voluntary
redundancy from Longannet.
In recent years ScottishPower has been taking some 1.5 million tonnes
more than the three million it was contracted to take from British Coal.
In future, those additional tonnages -- on top of the minimum supply
contract which drops to two million for this year and next -- should
attract the new Government subsidy to make up the difference between
Longannet costs
and world coal market prices. These subsidies should also help to
displace some 700,000 tonnes of imported coal.
A three-year extension of the ScottishPower contract would appear to
strengthen the hand of those, including the Scottish NUM, who are
seeking to put together a buy-out package for all British Coal's
Scottish interests including Longannet, Scotland's only operational deep
mine, the Frances reserves currently in ''mothballs'', and the extensive
open cast facilities.
Meanwhile, south of the Border, crucial contracts to supply 160
million tonnes of coal to the two main power generators over the next
five years were finally agreed yesterday.
The deal to sell 40 million tonnes of coal to PowerGen and National
Power over the next 12 months, falling to 30 million tonnes in each of
the following four years, came just two days before the current contract
of 65 million tonnes for the past year runs out.
Ahead of last night's key Commons debate on the Government's coal
review White Paper thousands of miners and their supporters, including a
strong Scottish contingent, marched through London to lobby MPs.
Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes joined forces with NUM leader Arthur
Scargill in calling on workers to take industrial action to halt pit
closures.
Mr Hughes told the rally that the country ''ought to be on strike'' on
Friday to remind the Government that the crisis will not go away, even
if it won a Commons vote on the pits' rescue package.
Mr Scargill appealed to TUC and Labour Party officials not to make
''the same mistake'' as in 1984, when calls for a general strike to
support the miners were turned down.
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