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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Battle of Orgreave inquiry ruled out | Battle of Orgreave inquiry ruled out |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| There will be no inquiry into the notorious events at the so-called "Battle of Orgreave", Home Secretary Amber Rudd has announced. | There will be no inquiry into the notorious events at the so-called "Battle of Orgreave", Home Secretary Amber Rudd has announced. |
| Thousands of miners and police clashed at the Yorkshire coking site in 1984. | Thousands of miners and police clashed at the Yorkshire coking site in 1984. |
| Campaigners said officers led by South Yorkshire Police were heavy-handed and manufactured statements. | Campaigners said officers led by South Yorkshire Police were heavy-handed and manufactured statements. |
| However, Mrs Rudd said she did not believe there was "sufficient basis... to instigate either a statutory inquiry or an independent review". | However, Mrs Rudd said she did not believe there was "sufficient basis... to instigate either a statutory inquiry or an independent review". |
| Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott described the decision as a "grave injustice", while Andy Burnham MP called it an "establishment stitch-up". | |
| For live updates and more from across South Yorkshire | For live updates and more from across South Yorkshire |
| In a written statement, Mrs Rudd said: "Despite the forceful accounts and arguments provided by the campaigners and former miners who were present that day about the effect that these events have had on them, ultimately there were no deaths or wrongful convictions." | In a written statement, Mrs Rudd said: "Despite the forceful accounts and arguments provided by the campaigners and former miners who were present that day about the effect that these events have had on them, ultimately there were no deaths or wrongful convictions." |
| Calls for an Orgreave inquiry escalated following the conclusion of the two-year Hillsborough inquests, which provided a scathing assessment of the under-fire South Yorkshire Police force's behaviour. | |
| What was the 'Battle of Orgreave'? | |
| Orgreave: The battle that's not over | |
| The statement added: "The campaigners say that had the consequences of the events at Orgreave been addressed properly at the time, the tragic events at Hillsborough would never have happened five years later. | The statement added: "The campaigners say that had the consequences of the events at Orgreave been addressed properly at the time, the tragic events at Hillsborough would never have happened five years later. |
| "That is not a conclusion which I believe can be reached with any certainty." | "That is not a conclusion which I believe can be reached with any certainty." |
| Mrs Rudd acknowledged her decision would be a "significant disappointment" to the Orgreave Truth And Justice Campaign, but said a raft of "very significant changes" to policing since 1984 meant there would be "very few lessons to be learned". | |
| However, Mr Burnham said: "Given that the IPCC found evidence of perjury and perverting the course of justice, and given that in the last month new evidence has emerged from former police officers who were at Orgreave of orchestrated violence and the mass manufacture of police statements, aren't we right in concluding that the establishment stitch-up that she has just announced today is nothing more than a naked political act?" | |
| Mrs Rudd said he was "entirely wrong", accusing him of choosing to "politicise" the decision. | |
| She added: "Just because I have made a decision with which he disagrees, does not mean it is the wrong decision." | |
| Labour MP for Bolsover Dennis Skinner described the announcement as contrary to that of Prime Minister and former Home Secretary Theresa May. | |
| Mrs Rudd, however, said that there had been "no commitment made before, only a willingness to look at the evidence". | |
| South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings said he was "shocked and dismayed" by the decision. | |
| He said: "The government has marched the Campaign for Truth and Justice to the top of the hill, only to march it down again. | |
| "The former miners and the former mining communities in South Yorkshire deserve an explanation as to what happened on that day and where Orgreave fits in the wider story of the miners' strike. | |
| "I believe the government has shied away from agreeing an inquiry because of those wider issues." |