Steel Ourselves For The Fight

My friend Dave Douglass recently took to Radio Four to give both barrels to the people who wanted, "wind turbines made out of chocolate, and electric cars made out of wicker." You either believe in a domestic steel industry, which in Britain would also mean a domestic coal industry since we were lucky enough to live on top of a thousand year supply of the stuff, or you simply do not believe in national security, or national sovereignty, or anything very much else.

All three parties on the Labour-led Cumbria County Council voted in favour of the new pit at Whitehaven. Yet it looks as if all three parties at Westminster are going to oppose it, just as they all intend to vote for the new parliamentary boundaries. Those would keep the number of seats the same, but abolish 30 along the Red Wall in order to shift the balance of power back to the places that would ordinarily be of any interest to the people who were now back in control of all three parties.

There are 72 Red Wall seats, the 14 that the Conservative Party gained in 2017 and retained in 2019, and the 58 that it gained in 2019. All 72 of those MPs should set their faces against the abolition or the substantial redrawing of any of their seats. They should make it clear that they would vote against any such boundary changes, which would require the approval of the House of Commons.

And they should make it clear that they would take the same approach to any attempt to block the new mine, even if the need for parliamentary consent would not be so direct. 72 rebels would be enough to defeat the Government. If there were an Opposition.