Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer writes for The Northern Echo about ending a historic injustice, ensuring fair payouts for former mineworkers for years to come.

I remember being a student at university in the 1980s, when the country was in the grip of the miners’ strike. The solidarity of miners’ fighting for their jobs, communities fighting for their way of life, had a real impact on me.

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 and history.

It’s part of the Labour Party’s history too – the former MP for Blyth Valley, Ronnie Campbell, sadly died this year. He worked down Bates Colliery when he was 14, before joining the NUM.

These were the jobs that fuelled our country – and 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 which will be hitting people’s pay packets from now. That is a testament to years of struggle by so many who have campaigned for justice over many years. Labour MPs like Grahame Morris 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.

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We’re bringing investment into communities. SeAH Wind’s investment of over £600m will build a world leading XXL monopile foundation manufacturing facility in Teesside, creating up to 800 jobs by 2030. And last month, I announced £21.7 billion of investment into carbon capture, which will benefit the East Coast Cluster in Teesside, which will support or create thousands of new jobs.

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.