NUM members say UK Coal's decision to close three north Yorkshire pits will hit the economy of the whole of the region.

The union says the closure of Wistow, Stillingfleet and Riccall, all in the Selby complex, removes a fifth of the UK's deep mining.

The complex will be closed by spring 2004 with the loss of 2,100 direct mining jobs, raising concern about thousands of other jobs in the wider community.

The company blamed deteriorating geological conditions and financial losses.

There is no fishing industry left and soon there will be no coal industry left

Clive Tennant, NUM

The cost of the redundancy package will be �40m, �10m of which will come from the government.

The maximum amount miners will be offered is �27,000.

NUM members said the closures would affect the whole of Yorkshire - those who work in the mines travel from all over the county.

Men from Wakefield who transferred to Selby when their pits closed are now facing redundancy for a second or third time.

Clive Tennant, branch president of Wistow NUM said: "We are an island built on coal surrounded by sea.

"There is no fishing industry left and soon there will be no coal industry left.

"It costs billions to get into a new seam.

The news caused dejection

"UK Coal have said they are not prepared to do that.

"I believe the government should be prepared to."

Mr Pearce added: "Are we going to go to the energy minister in 20 years and say 'Well the Labour Government of 2002 made a big mistake, it got rid of mining?"'

The energy minister Brian Wilson said: "We put �43m into Selby... but where do you stop?

Aid promised

"You have to stop on the basis of a reasonable judgment which the company has made and our own consultants endorse.

"There is no prospect of Selby being operated in the foreseeable future as a viable entity."

Miner Brian Wood, 48, from Selby, said: "We are being sacrificed and the investment and money transferred to a so-called super pit so they can introduce flexible working arrangements."

'Extra support'

The government has promised the extension of an existing aid scheme for the coal industry, and a task force to help re-train workers.

Roy Wilson, chair of the Selby Regeneration Committee said: "We can encourage and assist people to try to set up their own businesses."

Pontefract and Castleford MP Yvette Cooper added: "What the government has announced means extra support for pits right across the country."