Neil Kinnock has accused Nigel Farage of “deliberately lying” or being “extremely stupid” following his suggestions to reopen coal mines in south Wales.
Last month, the Reform UK leader called for coal mines in south Wales to open again and for the blast furnaces at steelworks in Port Talbot to be restarted.
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Farage said it was in the “national interest” to have a guaranteed supply of steel and that Britain should “produce our own coal.”
However, the suggestions have been slammed by former Labour leader Kinnock who said Farage was either “deliberately lying” or being “extremely stupid” with his comments.
Appearing on Sky News on Sunday, Kinnock said: “Nigel Farage was down in south Wales saying he wants to reopen the coal mines and restart the blast furnaces in Port Talbot.
“When I was a student, for five, six years I worked in a steelworks. I worked on the blast furnaces, my father was a blast furnace-man. The idea of restarting a blast furnace is the other side of impossible – it’s ridiculous. And reopening a coal mine would not just be perilous, it would be lethal.
“So, either Farage knows that and is deliberately lying, or he doesn’t know it and he’s extremely stupid!”