London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Sep 30, 2025

‘It’s offensive’: Wakefield residents on PM’s pit closures joke

‘It’s offensive’: Wakefield residents on PM’s pit closures joke

Boris Johnson’s comments come as ex-miners fight to save their ‘raided’ pension fund

In a neatly decorated terraced house in the old mining village of Stanley on the outskirts of Wakefield, 64-year-old ex-miner Ian Hoggan pulled out a banner showing a miner crucified on a colliery wheel, with the words “Save our pensions.”

Hoggan, who worked down a pit here in Wakefield and one at Selby, now devotes a large portion of his time to fight for millions of pounds of pensions savings to be returned to miners and their families, many of whom are struggling financially.

Last month former mineworkers were left “sickened and disgusted” after the prime minister broke his promise to end an arrangement set up in 1994 that has seen the government take 50% of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme funds in exchange for a commitment that the pot’s value would not drop.

“They’ve never paid a penny in and yet they’ve completely raided it,” Hoggan said of the government. “Local shops and pubs are shutting round here, and that is happening because loads of miners can’t afford to bloody go in the pubs now, when they used to go in them every week. I can’t get my head around why they want to punish us to the grave,” he said.

It is a heated row, made worse this week by Boris Johnson’s joke that Margaret Thatcher had given the UK an “early start” on tackling fossil fuels by closing the pits.

While for some, the prime minister’s comment was about a moment in history that has long passed, for Hoggan, and many people who live in former mining communities that still have not recovered from the abject destitution of the miners’ strikes and the pit closures Thatcher brought on in the 1970s and 80s, the pain is still acute.

“I don’t think he gives a damn about anybody, or the climate, or the state of children’s health, poverty, homeless people, the state of rented housing,” said Hoggan who cycles instead of drives, to help tackle climate change.

Chris Kitchen, the general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers, said Johnson’s comment “just shows how devoid he is of compassion and how far he is from the real world”.

He added: “To make light of the devastation of the industry that threw mineworkers on the scrapheap, I’m just lost for words for how this country has gone downhill if this is the best we’ve got to represent us as a prime minister.

“There are still families that were torn apart due to the dispute that still don’t speak to each other, former mineworkers that are still living with poor health with very little assistance whatsoever … and you’ve got communities now that still haven’t recovered from the mines shutting. For him to make light of that, it’s beyond a joke.”

These words were echoed on the street in Wakefield, where people feel hurt, being surrounded by former mining towns and villages.

Donna Adams, a headteacher, said the prime minister should choose his words more carefully.

“People can be sensitive to blase comments because words have a deep-rooted impact on everyday working-class people.

Headteacher Donna Adams said Boris Johnson ‘doesn’t always understand working-class people’ .


“[Johnson] doesn’t always understand working-class people – more educated people sometimes think it doesn’t matter. He hasn’t lived the life of working-class people, where money’s scarce, and I don’t always think there’s much understanding at that top level.”

In 2019, like many Labour heartlands, Wakefield gained its first Tory MP in living memory, Imran Ahmad Khan, currently an independent, having had the whip withdrawn in June when he was charged in connection with a historic sexual offence. In a statement posted on Twitter, Khan said he denied the accusation “in the strongest terms”.

Adams warned that Johnson was in danger of losing any support gained in previously Labour areas. “People round here are not happy with Keir Starmer. [Johnson] could make a big impact if he was more careful,” she said.

Michelle Preston (right) and Verity Wollerton in Wakefield.


Michelle Preston, out shopping with her daughter-in-law, Verity Wollerton, said her opinion of the prime minister had plummeted.

“It’s changed my opinion on him. My dad was a miner and he would be really upset by that. It’s really offensive. Boris was born with a silver spoon in his mouth – we haven’t all had a life like that.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
Explosive Email Shows Sarah Ferguson Begged Forgiveness from Jeffrey Epstein After Taking His Money
×