The town of Shirebrook formed around the colliery in Bolsover so as to provide residence to the miners and their families. This coal mine supplied 2000 secure jobs. As cheaper sources of energy became available both Labour and Conservative governments tried and failed to close the mines. The Labour MP of Bolsover, Dennis Skinner, supported miner strikes and sacrificed a quarter of his wage to for the union. Over his time as MP, and because of his selfless fight for his community, he became known as the “Beast of Bolsover”.

Under the Thatcher government the union strikers had finally met their match. She has accumulated enough coal so as to weather a long union strike and the union was finally defeated. The Shirebrook colliery subsequently closed in 1993 putting a lot of people out of work and leaving the town without its heart. A warehouse opened up supplying 3500 jobs, but these were not full time positions, they were lower than minimum wage given the frequent penalties that would be levelled at the employees, and the conditions were demanding & cruel.

EU migrants came to fill the jobs that Brits didn’t want and a resentment built up for them and the EU more generally. This resentment culminated in overwhelming support for Brexit in the 2016 referendum. In this most recent 2019 general election the clarity of the Conservative’s “Get Brexit Done” slogan clearly resonated with the Bolsover district. For the first time in 49 years they voted out Dennis Skinner and opted instead for the Conservative MP, Mark Fletcher.