British Coal: Difference between revisions

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[[image:British Coal.png|thumb|150px|British Coal company logo]]

The '''British Coal Corporation''' was a [[nationalised]] corporation in the United Kingdom responsible for the extraction of [[coal]]. It was formed in 1946 by the [[Coal Industry Nationalisation Act]] and existed until 1997, when it was wound.

'''British Coal''' was a former [[United Kingdom|British]] [[corporation]] consisting of the assets of various [[coal]] [[mining]] firms which had been [[nationalization|nationalised]]. Some of these firms were [[bankrupt]] or otherwise financially-troubled and nationalisation allowed them to continue in operation and to provide their workers with employment. Working conditions were also improved under nationalisation in some instances. In any event, nationalisation of major industries (the so-called commanding heights of the economy) was long the basis of the programme of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] during its [[socialism|socialist]] era; the formation of British Coal occurred beginning during the time of Labour leader [[Clement Attlee]] as [[Prime Minister]] during the late [[1940s]].

== History ==

Many of the mines nationalised under British Coal were older, inefficient operations which were nearing the end of their useful life under any circumstances; the corporation required large [[subsidy|subsidies]] from the Government in order to remain in operation. When [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] leader [[Margaret Thatcher]] became Prime Minister in [[1979]], her economic programme centred around the elimination of subsidies and the [[privatization|privatisation]] of most nationalised industries, including British Coal, which was eventually accomplished.

British Coal was formed on 12 July, 1946 as the National Coal Board (NCB), which was responsible for the organisation and running of coal extraction. It was under the responsibility of the Minister of Fuel & Power, who presented the Board's reports to Parliament.

The vesting date for nationalised coal was 1 January, 1947 when the assets of approximately 800 private collieries, the Coal Commission, and the service contracts held by the colliery companies. All staff from the district selling schemes that operated in the [[United Kingdom]] were also transferred to the NCB.

The NCB formed two holding companies in 1973 to handle non-core (deep and opencast mining) activities: NCB (Coal Products) Limited and NCB (Ancilliaries) Limited.

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In 1987 the NCB became the British Coal Corporation.

With the passing of the [[Coal Industry Act]] in 1994 the industry-wide administrative functions of British Coal were transferred to a new Coal Authority, with its assets being privatised, most notably its English assets being merged with RJB Mining to form [[UK Coal]] plc.

[[Category:Defunct companies of the United Kingdom]]