MINING union officials won the unanimous support yesterday of Lothian

Regional Council in the fight to save the closure-threatened Bilston

Glen and Monktonhall pits.

A deputation led by Scottish NUM general secretary Mr Eric Clarke

included mining union officials from Monktonhall Colliery only.

Mr Clarke told councillors that union representatives from Bilston

Glen had been prevented by the management from attending. The men had

been told that if they took time off to address the council they would

be marked as absentees.

Mining officials told councillors that the men wanted to continue the

fight for the collieries -- the last deep mining pits in the Lothians.

They claimed there were markets for Bilston Glen coal and warned of the

serious consequences to the region's economy if the pits closed.

A motion deploring the coal board's intention to close the collieries

won the support of all the political parties on the council.

* Lothians MEP Mr David Martin has called for a ban on the import of

foreign coal. Speaking yesterday to union leaders from Bilston Glen, he

said it was deplorable that when 700 jobs were under threat at the

collieries massive amounts of coal were being imported.

He produced figures which he claimed showed that 830,000 tonnes of

coal were imported into the UK in January, 130,000 tonnes more than the

same month last year.

He said: ''We are presently importing coal from Belgium, Luxembourg,

France, the Netherlands, Ireland, West Germany, USSR, Poland, Australia,

and the United States, providing jobs for miners in those countries

while putting our own miners on the dole. This is crazy.''