Why communities in Yorkshire are amongst the most ‘green-sceptic’ in the UK - Jayne Dowle

We’re one of the ‘pockets of resistance’ as Unherd puts it, remaining in Yorkshire, the North East and Wales, all areas with coal dust in their veins.

And interestingly, most of the rebel constituencies, including Barnsley Central and Barnsley East, the top two green-sceptic locations, are represented by Labour MPs.

Further east in Yorkshire can be found the next refuseniks; in third place Kingston upon Hull East, and in fourth Kingston Upon West and Hessle. In fifth is Rotherham. Doncaster Central and Doncaster North, represented by none other than Ed Miliband, shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and a decades-long activist for Net Zero and green issues, also appear in the top 10.

As we worry about energy security - and rising bills - how green to go is emerging as a social and political conundrum with the potential to become as socially divisive as Brexit. In Barnsley - I think - it’s mostly about coal. That, and the cost of living.

Our town is almost unrecognisable from the one I grew up in. The colliery muck stack I can see from my house is now wooded and green. And thousands of people from all over the world have made their home here, challenging the stereotype of Barnsley as a strictly white, working-class town.

And still, we’re rebellious. We’re dealing with a heady concoction of mining history so proud it makes grown men cry, hurt still burning from the decimation of mining communities under Margaret Thatcher, knowledge that vast coal reserves lie under our homes whilst Putin thumbs his nose at the West, and a grudging acceptance that politicians who barely leave Westminster know nothing of the struggles of ordinary people.

Air source heat pumps to replace gas boilers at thousands of pounds a pop? Electric cars that make the meter whizz round at dizzying speed? There’s only so far that most of us will go.

In communities like mine, this no-nonsense, won’t be ripped off attitude is creating a contradictory approach to green issues. We haven’t a hope of central government approaching this with anything like the sensitivity it demands.

For instance, I recycle cans, jars, bottles and paper religiously. I practice sustainable gardening, avoiding chemicals and trapping slugs with beer and salt.

I go round the house switching lights off and will never buy anything new if I can find it ‘preloved’; indeed it grieves me to see people recklessly throwing perfectly good furniture into skips at the local civic amenity site.

And yet, I’ve had a multi-fuel stove in my living room for six years now, long before they became not only fashionable but practical, certainly in terms of keeping an old house warm over winter in the face of soaring energy bills.

I light it in the evening, around 6pm, and burn properly seasoned logs. ‘Wet wood’ is not only outlawed, it’s also less efficient in terms of giving heat. However, to keep the home fire burning, when it’s got going nicely, I add about half a dozen briquets of smokeless fuel.

This combination keeps us toasty until bedtime. At the supermarket, it usually costs about £7 for a 10kg bag of smokeless and it lasts a good couple of weeks. However, as soon as February ended, my local store replaced bags of smokeless fuel with piles of (not yet peat-free) compost.

On the way back from football with my dad last weekend, I asked if we could stop at a garage to pick up a bag of smokeless fuel.

The price? £13.49 for the same kind of 10kg bag I’d have got from the supermarket. I left it on the forecourt.

Dad and I got chatting about various things. He told me about how proud family friends are; their primary school age grand-daughter has had a story she’s written about saving the rainforests published in a book.

I’m pleased for them all too, obviously. But it made me think. If children were not writing about saving the rainforests, would garages still be doubling the ticket on a bag of smokeless fuel? And would we be in such a paradoxical state about green issues here in Barnsley?