The Government is, it seems, ready to subsidise the coal industry. This news comes too late for the 100,000-plus miners who have lost their jobs since the end of the 1984 strike. It will not resurrect scores of collieries closed in the meantime. But it may ensure the survival of those that remain, including the Selby coalfield.

We must hope that it does. A grim future awaits the area if the pits are allowed to go under. Today's report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says former mining regions still suffer from high unemployment, poverty and sickness levels a decade after the axe fell.

Without help, coalfields in Selby and elsewhere will face the same fate. There is, however, a better reason than this for Government support: the industry has earned it. British miners are the most productive in Europe. They regularly smash output records. It is a testament to their efforts that coalfields survive to be subsidised, because outside forces have conspired to close them.

Our pits cannot produce coal as cheaply as those in Columbia, Poland, South Africa and several other countries, from which Britain buys about 20 million tonnes a year. Neither will they enjoy the state protection granted to the German coal industry - £2.3 billion in subsidy a year.

Domestic policies, too, have undermined the miners. The strength of the pound and the "dash for gas" - the promotion of gas-fired power stations - have hit the industry hard.

There can be no doubt that the Government's predicted £100 million rescue package is politically motivated. Labour is frantic about losing support in its heartlands. After the Rover debacle, it would be a disaster for the party to be seen as responsible for the death of the British coalfields.

Yet, for the Selby miners and their families, the reason for the subsidy is irrelevant. What matters is that help is on its way. We must hope the support will continue once the General Election is over.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.