By the early 1980’s there were rumblings of discontent, more pay disputes, threatened closures and threatened strikes. The Conservatives had returned to power under Margaret Thatcher and appointed Ian McGregor as chairman of British Coal. He was a Scotsman who had spent time America and turned round the unprofitable British Leyland and British Steel through a harsh programme of plant closures and redundancies. After the 1974 strike the Labour government, the Coal Board and NUM had used rising oil prices as a vehicle to promote investment in the coal industry in their ‘Plan For Coal’. Millions had been invested to open new seams and support the plan for increased production, including £20 million to re- developing Silverdale Colliery near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire in 1976. A string of new coal fired power stations were built along the River Trent from Staffordshire to Nottinghamshire to guarantee future demand.