Mrs. Hilda Thatcher went for “The North Sea Dash For Gas”. This had, for her, the added bonus of stiffing the coal unions.
Being a chemist, she thought it would be cheaper and less damaging, if we transitioned away from Big Coal into using North Sea Gas (essentially Methane) that at one time was just flared off.
So, in the U.K. we started winding down our indigenous coal industry and made an indigenous Natural Gas Industry. So our base line electricity feedstock became North Sea Gas, rather than British Coal.
The North Sea Gas also became a feedstock for many other chemical industries, including fertiliser. One of the consequences was mass layoffs in the coal, coking and steel industries. No more gasometer construction, less coal and less steel needed, more layoffs.
Welcome in mass unemployment and many pissed off people.