Natural gas is in deed superior to coal. But not available everywhere. The UK has reduced coal usage considerable in recent decades, and replaced most of that with natural gas (about 5% coal remains as best I can find - reliable figures are elusive). Prior to 2021 UK and Europe were getting a lot of natural gas form the US. Biden administration halted that which is good news for Russia as it now has Europe by the tender parts (gas, oil, coal). The UK has had to depend more on OPEC oil and natural gas by tanker - more expensive than the US supply.

The cleanest energy in the UK is nuclear, but currently they are reducing use of the good stuff. I could not find reliable info on how much of that nuke comes from France, but I'm guessing most of it. When Germany and UK announced they would decom nuclear, France started building new nuclear power plants.