PM: Thatcher gave the UK an 'early start' on climate change, by closing the coal mines

Boris Johnson is reported to have said that Margaret Thatcher deserves credit for closing the UK’s coal mines in the 1980s, and that it was her ‘forgotten legacy’ in the fight against climate change.

Controversially he is said to have laughed, adding ‘I thought that would get you going’.

The PM made the comments during a briefing to newspaper journalist while on a trip to Scotland to visit off shore wind projects.

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