COUNCILLORS have joined forces with miners' leaders in an eleventh-hour attempt to save the Selby pit complex.
They have pledged to join a National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) delegation, which will plead with Tony Blair to keep the coalfield open with further Government subsidies.
Members of Selby District Council voted unanimously at its monthly meeting to support the NUM in its last-ditch stance.
The union's Yorkshire Area chairman Kevin Meloy told the council meeting that Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt had recently approved further aid for the coal industry, but not for Selby.
He said: "This was very hard to take and our only hope now is to convince the Prime Minister that Selby has a future."
Mr Meloy said Selby's economy would lose £420 million in the first year after the pits closed and £250 million a year every year until 2011 - compared to the £35 million a year of Government aid that was needed to keep the complex open.
Updated: 15:03 Thursday, March 27, 2003
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