The Labour Party in Copeland have hit back at the claim that the decision from Cumbria County Council to reconsider plans for the Whitehaven coal mine was motivated by political pressures.

A statement issued Copeland Labour Party has accused “local Tory leaders” of “trying to deceive the public” with “fake news” on the decision made by Cumbria County Council on Tuesday to reconsider plans for Woodhouse Colliery on the edge of Whitehaven.

“For clarity - Cumbria County Council has not ‘stopped the mine’ or ‘bottled it’”, the statement, issued on Wednesday evening, read. 

“They have been forced to bring back the decision to the committee stage because of planning laws, which are set by the Conservative Government, and information and guidelines on climate control, which are also set and published by the Conservative Government.”

Copeland’s Conservative mayor, Mike Starkie, who has this week described the county council as having “bottled it” on the mine, remains convinced that the decision to reconsider the mine’s application was motivated by political pressure.

“There is absolutely no reason whatsoever why they could not have issued the permits this week,” he said.

“The reality is that everything in the process for this planning application for the mine has been completed.

“Cumbria County Council should have and could have issued the permits this week.

“They’re reeling and buckling under the pressure of third party groups.”

Mr Starkie argued that this "pressure" came to a head last Sunday, with an appearance by Labour Shadow Business Secretary Ed Miliband on the Andrew Marr Show, in which he expressed criticism of the plans for the coking coal mine.

Mr Starkie argued that Mr Milliband "made clear" the national Labour Party's position on the Whitehaven coal mine - though the Copeland Labour Party has said that there is no national consensus across the party on the issue, with some for and some against it.

"As a Labour-led council, it will clearly be influenced by the national policy which was articulated for the whole country to hear by Ed Miliband," Mr Starkie said.

“It’s no coincidence that a couple of days later, the Labour-led Cumbria County Council didn’t issue the permit,” he said.

Cumbria County Council stated on Tuesday that the decision to reconsider the application on Woodhouse Colliery from West Cumbria Mining was taken “because in December 2020, the Government’s Climate Change Committee released its report on its recommendations for the Sixth Carbon Budget”.

“The report, among other things, sets out the volume of greenhouse gases the UK aims to emit during 2033-2037.

“This new information has been received prior to the issue of the formal decision notice on the application.”

The Copeland branch of the Labour Party, which is in favour of the mine’s construction, added that it is the Government which sets the “laws and guidelines that councils have to operate within”. 

“The County Council approved the mine in October, and were then informed that they could not issue the decision until the Secretary of State had decided if he wanted to review the decision. 

“Meanwhile, the same Conservative Government published a paper on climate commitments in December, which is what has prompted this to go back before the committee.”

The Copeland Labour Party branch also argued that if the national Government wants the mine to go ahead, “they could change the law or update their guidelines [or] information accordingly and it would happen - but they aren’t doing that.”

“If the Conservative Government wanted to take the matter out of local hands and approve the mine as a project of significant infrastructure interest they have the power to, and the mine would happen - but they aren’t doing that.”

The local party’s statement concluded that “local Tory leaders” would be better served “putting pressure on their own national party leaders” to “step in” and ensure the mine goes ahead, “rather than trying to deceive the public about what’s really going on here”.

Mr Starkie was firm in his position that the Government should not intervene in the decision-making process on the mine, adding that he had “put pressure” on the Government to “not intervene”, along with Mike Johnson, Allerdale Borough Council’s deputy leader, and Conservative Cumbrian MPs John Stevenson, Simon Fell, Trudy Harrison and Mark Jenkinson.

“It’s a local decision”, he said. “And the local decision has been taken by the county council’s planning panel on two occasions. And it’s passed on both occasions.

“We’d be flip-flopping if we then called on the Government to intervene.”