A SENIOR Labour politician has urged Government ministers to stop "dragging their feet" over the embattled Kellingley Colliery.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday met the Business Secretary Vince Cable and urged him to do all he can to save the last deep pit mine in Yorkshire before it is too late.

Ms Cooper, whose Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford constituency is close to the colliery, said the Government must act fast.

She said: “There are 500 skilled jobs at stake here, with around 200 set to go in the next couple of weeks if we don't get support.

"And with £1 billion of investment going into clean coal technology just down the road at Drax, the Government should be pulling out the stops to try to keep Kellingley open so Drax isn't just dependent on imported coal.

“But the Government needs to act now. There's been no investment in new faces for almost 12 months. The face gap is growing and with every week that goes by the cost of keeping the pit open is going up.

"I urged Vince Cable to support Kellingley before it is too late. We first asked Ministers to look at state aid twelve months ago. And I told him we were afraid Ministers had been deliberately dragging their feet to push up the cost so it would be too late.

"He promised me we would get an answer this week. But they need to understand the importance of Kellingley to our economy - these are skilled jobs that we need in our area.

“We’ve marched, lobbied the Government and fought for the future of our pit. This is our last chance - the Government needs to act now before it is too late.”

The mine is currently due for a managed closure by the end of this year, funded by a £4 million Government loan, but owners UK Coal have asked for more cash to keep the mine open until 2018 and help retrain the miners, and a decision on state aid is due before the dissolution of Parliament next week.

UK Coal announced plans to wind down both Kellingley and the Thoresby deep mine in Nottinghamshire, with the loss of a 1,300 jobs by autumn this year.

A rescue deal combining a £10 million Government loan and private cash collapsed in June last, and a worker buy out put together in July fell apart with the National Union of Mineworkers blaming UK Coal for insisting the mine take on heavy debts.