Opposition leaders and former mining communities on Friday lashed out at Prime Minister Boris Johnson for joking that former leader Margaret Thatcher's coal mine closures had given Britain a head start in fighting climate change.

Thatcher, in power from 1979 to 1990, fought a bitter battle with coal miners in the 1980s, delivering the unionised industry's death knell by closing over 100 mines, devastating communities in northern England, South Wales and Scotland.

A year-long walkout against closure plans by miners in 1984-85 was one of the defining moments of her premiership, eroding union power and accelerating her free-market reforms.

Johnson made the comments on a visit to an offshore wind farm in Scotland on Thursday, as he talked about the changes in Britain's energy mix ahead of convening the UN's COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.

"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," he said.

Johnson's spokesman on Friday refused to apologise, saying "the prime minister recognises the huge impact and pain closing coal mines had in communities across the UK".

But the quip risks backfiring with voters in former mining heartlands of northern England, who switched from Labour to his Conservatives in the last general election in 2019, largely over Brexit.

Newspapers also seized on the comment, with the traditionally Labour-supporting Daily Mirror headlining its front page "Johnson is the pits".

- 'Out of touch' -

Labour party leader Keir Starmer said: "Boris Johnson's shameful praising of Margaret Thatcher's closure of the coal mines, brushing off the devastating impact on those communities with a laugh, shows just how out of touch he is with working people."

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford, also of Labour, told BBC radio the comments were "crass and offensive", saying the closures caused "incalculable" damage to local communities.

Johnson failed to meet First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on his two-day visit to Scotland, where feelings still run high against the Tories because of Thatcher's policies.

Sturgeon said communities across Scotland were "utterly devastated by Thatcher's destruction of the coal industry".

She has repeatedly criticised Johnson for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic response and his refusal to allow a second referendum on Scottish independence.

Alan Mardghum, secretary of the Durham Miners' Association in northeast England, said Johnson was guilty of showing "utter contempt" and of rewriting history.

"The wilful annihilation of the coal industry caused social and economic devastation in our communities that is still felt to this day," he said.

"The Thatcher government increased coal imports to more than 40 million tonnes a year, often mined by child labour in the developing world."

Grahame Morris, a Labour MP in County Durham, said Thatcher's assault on mining "had nothing to do with saving the environment".

"It was an assault on a way of life, on trade unions and on communities that did not fit with Thatcher's free-market brand of conservatism that worshipped money, speculation, the City of London and greed over community and society."

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