MERSEYSIDE is poised to pioneer a multi-billion pound new industry to burn coal for power without adding to global warming, the Government revealed yesterday.

It is a front-runner to build a "cluster" of up to four power stations where the carbon dioxide emitted would be trapped and buried off-shore, MPs were told.

The development would see Merseyside leading the world in a technology – carbon capture and storage (CCS) – seen as essential to Britain’s ambitious plans to slash carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.

Each plant could cost £1bn in an industry expected to employ 50,000 people, potentially throwing a lifeline at a time of rising unemployment.

Merseyside is in the frame because of its existing industry base and proximity to a suitable location to store the captured carbon – in a giant salt aquifer, in the Lower Mersey basin.

The aquifer – an underground natural reservoir of salt water – would allow the injected liquid carbon dioxide to physically push the salt water out of the way before dissolving over time.

Such aquifers can be 100 times bigger than the abandoned oil and gas fields under the North Sea, which have also been suggested for CCS.

However, environmental campaigners are horrified that, under the proposals set out by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband yesterday, only a quarter of the carbon will be captured for several years. They fear the Government is attempting to wriggle out of growing demands for an absolute ban on new coal- fired power plants until CCS technology is proven.

Setting out his plans in the Commons, Mr Miliband picked out Merseyside, Teesside, the Thames Gateway, the Firth of Forth and the Humber as ideal locations for the new plants.