Boris Johnson in Scotland: Scottish Tories frustrated by PM's Thatcher joke

During a climate-focused visit to Scotland, Boris Johnson joked that Thatcher’s destructive pit closures gave the UK a “big early start” to achieving its net-zero goals.

He is then reported to have told members of the press: “I thought that would get you going.”

Thatcher’s Tory government closed more than 110 coal mines, leading to the loss of around 200,000 jobs according to some estimates. With no plan in place for what to do with those suddenly out of work, previously industrial areas in Scotland – as well as Wales and northern England – saw unemployment grow.

READ MORE: Welsh First Minister joins condemnation of Boris Johnson's coal mine 'joke'

Many of the affected areas continue to see unemployment above the national average.

Johnson’s comments have been condemned across the political spectrum – with Labour, Green and SNP figures all quick to criticise him.

Scottish Conservatives, expectedly, have not spoken out, but according to reports they are frustrated behind closed doors.

The BBC says Scottish Tory representatives privately believe Johnson’s trip had been going well, but found the Thatcher comments to be “crass”, “not helpful” and an “unforced error”. Some have their “head in their hands” after the incident, it was reported.

The party has been contacted for comment.

In northern England, Tory MPs have also expressed their anger. “It’s not really the smartest thing to say is it?” said one MP in a former mining area. “It’s also not right.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was among those to vocally condemn the Prime Minister’s joke. “Lives and communities in Scotland were utterly devastated by Thatcher’s destruction of the coal industry,” she wrote.

“To treat that as something to laugh about is crass and deeply insensitive to that reality.”

Meanwhile, Labour leader Keir Starmer – who had also been on a COP26-focused trip to Scotland over the same two-day period – said the “shameful” joke showed “just how out of touch [Johnson] is with working people”.

This morning on a media round, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford made his position clear.

“I’m afraid that those remarks are both crass and offensive,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“The damage done to Welsh coal mining areas 30 years ago was incalculable and here we are 30 years later the Tories are still celebrating what they did.”

READ MORE: Boris Johnson slammed for 'crass jokes' about Margaret Thatcher closing coal mines

While visiting an offshore wind farm off the Moray coast, Johnson was pressed to explain when he would set a deadline for moving from oil and gas to green energy forms.

“Look at what we’ve done already,” he told reporters. “We’ve transitioned away from coal in my lifetime.

“Thanks to Margaret Thatcher, who closed so many coal mines across the country, we had a big early start and we’re now moving rapidly away from coal altogether.”