Mining: Health and Safety

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Tuesday 28th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Hannah Bardell]

I completely agree with the hon. Gentleman. Working with members who work in that community is vital.

West Lothian Council’s local history library collected information about the disaster that became part of a community exhibition developed in conjunction with the Calder history group and Almond Valley Heritage Trust. Many communities across the UK do work like this, and it is vital that the young people in communities around us remember their industrial heritage.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (SNP)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this Adjournment debate. May I take this opportunity to remember the 207 people who lost their lives at the High Blantyre colliery in what is now my constituency, on 22 October 1877? Many local women were suddenly widowed and children were left without a father in the worst mining disaster in Scotland’s history. Does my hon. Friend agree that, though historical, the tragedy provides a lesson from the past in why the health and safety of those working in mines should be paramount?

[Hannah Bardell]

I join my hon. Friend in her tributes. She is a doughty champion for her constituents, and I share in all that she says.