Cumbria coalmine digs a hole for Britain’s climate policy | Letters

Michael Gove's decision to approve a new mine is greeted with anger and frustration by Steven Schofield, Keith Fitton, Dr Chris Haughton, Gary Nethercott and Liz Fairhurst

The fact that a new coalmine will be the source of massive carbon emissions in a region that has experienced some of the worst floods in living memory, attributable to global heating, is a terrible indictment of generational policy failures (UK's first new coalmine for 30 years gets go-ahead in Cumbria, 7 December).

Cumbria should have been the centre of a vibrant renewable energy sector, recognising the historical decline of both nuclear and coal. Instead, local working people are turned into economic conscripts for a dead industry.