Government will push for green coronavirus recovery, says Tory MP

Alexander Stafford says party can avoid mistakes made in mine closures of Thatcher era

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The government is poised to push for a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis, one of the new Tory party MPs has said, in a way that could wipe out the mistakes made in shutting down the coal industry under Margaret Thatcher.

I very much hope we will hear about a green recovery soon from ministers," said Alexander Stafford, who took one of Labour's red wall" seats in northern England in last December's landslide election victory. We want a recovery, we want it green, so we will work for a green recovery."