Keir Starmer: 'Nottinghamshire miners powered our country, it's only right we honour them'

Thousands of mineworkers across Nottinghamshire will receive a significant increase to their pensions as almost £1.6b from a reserve fund is rightfully handed back to them. Here, in an exclusive piece for Nottinghamshire Live, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer writes how it's 'absolutely right that we honour those who contributed so much to our country'.

Writing exclusively for Nottinghamshire Live, Sir Keir Starmer says the return of one and a half billion pounds to the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme will benefit families "from Mansfield to Gedling, Bassetlaw to Broxtowe".

I remember being a student at university in the 1980s, when the country was in the grip of the miners' strike. It had a real impact on me – I remember how difficult it was, how it divided communities across the country and caused huge unrest.

Later, as a lawyer, I represented the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) in court. I was so proud that we won our case, but the Tories forced through the closures anyway.

So I understand what was lost in these communities. The pride of powering the nation. The sense of identity.

The men who worked down Thoresby, which only closed in 2015, Bilsthorpe, Clipstone, and Gedling – these were the jobs that fuelled our country. Then the Tories abandoned them.

The injustice of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme was yet another insult to working people. The government has kept money that rightfully belongs to the miners. We promised to right that injustice in our manifesto, and, in the Budget last month, we kept that promise.

£1.5 billion will be transferred back to miners. That's the equivalent of an average £29 weekly boost for miners and their families. Thousands of miners and their families across Nottinghamshire will benefit, from Mansfield to Gedling, Bassetlaw to Broxtowe.

That is a testament to years of struggle by so many who have campaigned for justice over many years. Nottinghamshire's Labour MPs have never stopped representing miners, their families, and their communities.

It's absolutely right that we honour those who contributed so much to our country. But that's not enough. Just as I fought for miners' jobs decades ago as a lawyer, as Prime Minister I'm determined that their children will have the good, well-paid jobs of the future. These communities will continue to power our nation for generations to come.

That's why we're launching a clean energy revolution. We've set up Great British Energy, to cut bills, boost energy independence and create good jobs.

We're bringing investment into communities. There are huge opportunities in Nottinghamshire, and this government will take full advantage of them.

That's on top of the other changes we're making. We're driving the biggest uplift to workers' rights in a generation – ending fire and rehire, scrapping exploitative zero hours contracts and protecting maternity and paternity rights. We're increasing the National Living Wage, which will put and extra £1400 a year in the pockets of working people. And we're protecting the triple lock for those who have worked hard all their lives.

All my life, I've stood with mining communities. With this government, we will make sure they have the respect they deserve, the good jobs they need and the opportunities for a better future.