'Communities were devastated': Boris Johnson criticised for 'crass' joke praising Margaret Thatcher closing coal mines

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced considerable backlash for “deeply insensitive” comments he made praising former PM Margaret Thatcher for closing coal mines across the UK, thereby giving the country a “big early start” in the fight against climate change.

The Prime Minister made his comments during a trip to Scotland, speaking to reporters after visiting the Moray East offshore wind farm.

What did Boris Johnson say?

When pressed on whether he would set a deadline for ending fossil fuel extraction during a visit to a giant wind farm off the coast of Scotland, Johnson hailed existing action to move to greener forms of power.

He stated that when he was a child, 70 per cent to 80 per cent of all electricity had been coal generated, with this figure falling to 40 per cent by the time he became London Mayor.

Since then, he said, “it’s gone right down to one per cent, or sometimes less”.

Johnson said: “Look at what we’ve done already. We’ve transitioned away from coal in my lifetime.

“Thanks to Margaret Thatcher, who closed so many coal mines across the country, we had a big early start and we’re now moving rapidly away from coal altogether.”

It is reported that Johnson laughed, and said to reporters: “I thought that would get you going.”

How did Nicola Sturgeon and Kier Starmer react?

Writing on Twitter, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Lives and communities in Scotland were utterly devastated by Thatcher’s destruction of the coal industry (which had zero to do with any concern she had for the planet).

“To treat that as something to laugh about is crass and deeply insensitive to that reality.”