FORTY years ago the government went to war against working people. 

Their “crime” was exercising the democratic, civil and industrial rights for which working people had fought and died. It wasn’t about improving wages and conditions; it was a struggle for survival, jobs, and a way of life unique to our mining communities.

The pit was the cornerstone of mining community, providing both employment and wages. Its economic impact extended beyond the mine itself, fostering a thriving local economy with independent businesses lining the high street. Miners’ contributions would also finance essential community assets such as parks, sports facilities and welfare halls.

Coalfield communities were tightly knit, living, working and socialising together. The values of the labour movement — solidarity, equality and justice — were forged at the coalface, where miners’ lives and safety relied on their comrades. These values shaped politics on the surface.

Throughout history, a power struggle persisted. Initially, it was against a political elite and aristocratic mine owners, intent on subjugating working people. Miners extracted immense wealth from the ground but shared few benefits, enduring poverty pay and tied accommodation. Progress was slow, with efforts to organise and unionise repeatedly thwarted until the establishment of the Durham Miners Association in 1869.

A century of progress would follow, culminating in the nationalisation of the industry. Wealth once amassed by coal magnates like Lord Londonderry was redirected to increasing productivity, raising wages and improving conditions. Mining remained dangerous. Four years after nationalisation, tragedy struck my community with the Easington Colliery disaster taking the lives of 83 men.

However, on the eve of the miners’ strike, our coalfields benefited from higher wages and thriving local communities, fuelled by the political and industrial power of working people, which the Tories were determined to destroy. 

Those who lived through the strike can testify to the draconian police state imposed on our communities. Brutality, collusion, surveillance. Basic civil rights were suspended as the once-thriving communities, sustained by full employment, were left devastated. The economic foundation destroyed. 

There was an exodus of young people seeking employment elsewhere due to the lack of hope and opportunity at home. 

This was an act of economic self-harm that undermined our regional economies, the legacy of which remains with us four decades on. 

The injustice continues. After the closure of the pits, the government targeted miners and their widows in retirement. To this day, the government continues to “steal” half of any surpluses generated from the Mineworkers Pension Scheme. Nearly £5 billion has been siphoned off by the Treasury since 1994, money that should be used to enhance pensions and deliver security in retirement. 

We owe a huge debt of honour to miners, whose lives were cut short through disease and injury. Their contribution to our nation is remarkable. 

Coal powered the industrial revolution and fuelled the engines of industry that made Britain great. For the majority of the last two centuries, Britain was a single fuel economy, reliant on coal. 

Even into the 21st century, coal remained a vital part of our economy. In 1994 when the last pit in my constituency closed, the UK’s combined production and import of coal totalled 64.88 million tonnes. Two decades later, this figure had decreased only slightly, to 63.38 million tonnes.

While demand remained, the supply shifted significantly with imports soaring from 23 per cent in 1994 to 80 per cent in 2013. This trend mirrored broader developments in our public services and economy, where outsourcing and privatisation reign, leading to diminished pay, terms, and conditions. As a result, wealth is channelled into the hands of a new aristocracy comprising oligarchs, plutocrats and multinational corporations. 

Forty years after the miners’ strike, the government remains committed to suppressing the power of working-class people. Its economic policy privatises profits while burdening the nation with debts. The poorest communities are disenfranchised from politics through boundary changes and voter ID laws. In the workplace and on the streets, protest, free speech and the right to assembly remain under constant assault.

We need to remember the giants of the labour movement that went before us. I don’t mean our political heroes like Keir Hardy, Nye Bevan and Tony Benn, but the millions of ordinary men and women whose solidarity and collective action made the trade union movement a power on which working-class people were able to build a fair and just society.

Grahame Morris is Labour MP for Easington.