Letter: EU rebate and the miners

Letter: I would like to take this opportunity to explain to the writer of the letter regarding the EEC rebate and the miners' strike.

When the Conservatives took Britain into the Common Market the Monetary Contribution was set on the performance of GDP and other factors such as unemployment.

During the first two years of Mrs Thatcher's government unemployment in Britain rose from 900,000 to 3.5 million, and Britain fell from the second most wealthy country in the EEC to the second lowest, just above the Italians. So this meant we were paying well above our fair contribution. Mrs Thatcher demanded a rebate and got it.

• See also: Maggie and the miners - who was right?

When Labour came to power in 1997 unemployment was cut to just 1.4 million and Britain was now back to the second most wealthy country in the EEC.

Therefore we were no longer entitled to the rebate.

The miners' strike was never about money but about keeping British miners in work. Mrs Thatcher's government started importing cheap coal from Poland.

All the miners wanted was to keep their jobs. We all know the mines were closed and to this very day Britain is importing nearly one millions tons of coal a year from Poland and Russia. In fact, Ironbridge power station is run on Russian coal.

Not only that, but MP Mark Pritchard has even tried to stop the opencast mining near The Wrekin which will produce more than 100 local jobs and supply the power station with local coal, this reducing its carbon footprint. So it only remains for you to judge, was Mrs Thatcher right or were the miners right?

G Sutherland

Trench