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Trade unions seek meeting with Ed Davey to save Eggborough

Trade union heads are seeking an urgent meeting with energy secretary Ed Davey to save 850 jobs at Eggborough power station.

The Yorkshire coal plant, which accounts for 4 per cent of UK power generation, is set to close by the end of 2015. Plans to convert it to run on biomass, worth around £750 million of investment, were axed after a shock decision by government last month to ration early approval for subsidies.

GMB and Unite said that unless government reversed the decision, 850 in-house workers and thousands of supply chain workers would lose their jobs.

Phil Whitehurst, GMB national officer for engineering construction, said: “The imminent closure of Eggborough is another indictment of the failing energy policy of this government. This power station is a viable generation facility if converted to biomass. There are foreign investors interested, but without the biomass subsidies the investment will not happen.”