I FIND it incredible that nearly 24 years after the miners’ strike ended, there are still some people who say the strike was the fault of the miners and their union.

It’s like arguing against the Flat Earth Society. Historical and documented evidence shows that Margaret Thatcher planned to destroy the mining industry and union. The upshot is there are no pits left and communities have been devastated.

And for those who still worship at the altar of Margaret Thatcher, the truth is her policies were the midwife of the credit crunch. Her decimation of industry for ephemeral financial services has caused this mess.

The tragedy is that New Labour has spent about £120bn to rescue the UK banking system. The spite of the Tories is reflected in the fact that to have saved the coal industry it would have cost a mere £1bn in today’s money.

What’s more, that comparative meagre amount would have been more than repaid to the Treasury by now, given that 50 per cent of the UK’s electricity still derives from coal. Thanks to Mrs Thatcher and the Tories we are now importing 43 million tonnes of coal a year, the equivalent of keeping 43 pits open. Sound economics, eh?

Jane Harker, South Shields, South Tyneside.