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| If Scotland is fairer, what about justice for miners? If Scotland is fairer, what about justice for miners? | |
| (21 days later) | |
| Only those whose lives have been disfigured by gross injustice will know that the shame and hurt are not diminished by time. That is why mature, enlightened and liberal democracies will sometimes reach out to groups who have been wronged in another age. It also sends out a message to those who would still cling to medievalism. The pursuit to restore justice denied can never be time-barred – unless you are a miner in the UK. | Only those whose lives have been disfigured by gross injustice will know that the shame and hurt are not diminished by time. That is why mature, enlightened and liberal democracies will sometimes reach out to groups who have been wronged in another age. It also sends out a message to those who would still cling to medievalism. The pursuit to restore justice denied can never be time-barred – unless you are a miner in the UK. |
| More than 30 years after the miners’ strike in 1984-85, thousands are still waiting for justice for their treatment. Governments north and south of the border have resisted all entreaties because each knows that to accede would be to invite proper scrutiny of the vindictive and sinister behaviour of the police. During the 12 months of the dispute, police forces were deployed in the manner of a private army by a government of the hard-right that used every means at its disposal to destroy the miners and their communities. | More than 30 years after the miners’ strike in 1984-85, thousands are still waiting for justice for their treatment. Governments north and south of the border have resisted all entreaties because each knows that to accede would be to invite proper scrutiny of the vindictive and sinister behaviour of the police. During the 12 months of the dispute, police forces were deployed in the manner of a private army by a government of the hard-right that used every means at its disposal to destroy the miners and their communities. |
| Amber Rudd’s announcement that there would be no inquiry into police conduct at Orgreave during the strike was surprising only because she and her officials had previously dropped broad hints that one would be forthcoming. In the interim, it seems that she was reminded that this was not behaviour expected of a home secretary in a hard-right Tory administration. | Amber Rudd’s announcement that there would be no inquiry into police conduct at Orgreave during the strike was surprising only because she and her officials had previously dropped broad hints that one would be forthcoming. In the interim, it seems that she was reminded that this was not behaviour expected of a home secretary in a hard-right Tory administration. |
| This was an opportunity for the SNP government to underpin the truth of one of their favourite mantras: that Scotland is a much fairer and more socially democratic country than England. For several years, Neil Findlay, the Labour MSP for Lothian, has been pressing the Scottish government to initiate an inquiry into the conduct of the Scottish police during the miners’ strike and the deeply questionable convictions of more than 500 miners. Last Monday, at the National Mining Museum in Newtongrange, he asked them again. | This was an opportunity for the SNP government to underpin the truth of one of their favourite mantras: that Scotland is a much fairer and more socially democratic country than England. For several years, Neil Findlay, the Labour MSP for Lothian, has been pressing the Scottish government to initiate an inquiry into the conduct of the Scottish police during the miners’ strike and the deeply questionable convictions of more than 500 miners. Last Monday, at the National Mining Museum in Newtongrange, he asked them again. |
| In particular, Findlay is seeking scrutiny of major flashpoints between police and miners at Hunterston power station in North Ayrshire and the Ravenscraig plant in Lanarkshire, which resulted in 292 arrests. A report compiled by Findlay, which argues for an inquiry, includes case studies of several miners who were brutalised by police before being branded by the courts. George Purcell, then an engineer at Bilston Glen colliery, remembers being pushed forward on a surging picket line on to a fence that gave way, resulting in a number of people falling over. He explains what happened next: “The police grabbed me off the ground and took me into custody.” He believes it was not bad luck that led to his arrest: “I was chairman of the Loanhead strike committee; on that day, nearly every chairman of each strike committee was arrested. We were informed the police had photos of us and specific targets for arrest.” He was subsequently dismissed and the NCB refused to reinstate him despite a tribunal ruling that he was unfairly dismissed. | In particular, Findlay is seeking scrutiny of major flashpoints between police and miners at Hunterston power station in North Ayrshire and the Ravenscraig plant in Lanarkshire, which resulted in 292 arrests. A report compiled by Findlay, which argues for an inquiry, includes case studies of several miners who were brutalised by police before being branded by the courts. George Purcell, then an engineer at Bilston Glen colliery, remembers being pushed forward on a surging picket line on to a fence that gave way, resulting in a number of people falling over. He explains what happened next: “The police grabbed me off the ground and took me into custody.” He believes it was not bad luck that led to his arrest: “I was chairman of the Loanhead strike committee; on that day, nearly every chairman of each strike committee was arrested. We were informed the police had photos of us and specific targets for arrest.” He was subsequently dismissed and the NCB refused to reinstate him despite a tribunal ruling that he was unfairly dismissed. |
| He also lost entitlement to any redundancy payment he would have been due. Hundreds of other miners and their families suffered similarly and discovered that they had been blacklisted, rendering futile their searches for alternative employment. | He also lost entitlement to any redundancy payment he would have been due. Hundreds of other miners and their families suffered similarly and discovered that they had been blacklisted, rendering futile their searches for alternative employment. |
| In Scotland, which provided 10% of the overall UK number of striking miners, the conviction rate was three times higher than in England. The levels of vindictiveness in the law’s treatment of Scottish miners were unprecedented. On picket lines, the police heavily outnumbered strikers and regularly prevented busloads of striking miners from getting to their destinations many miles away. | In Scotland, which provided 10% of the overall UK number of striking miners, the conviction rate was three times higher than in England. The levels of vindictiveness in the law’s treatment of Scottish miners were unprecedented. On picket lines, the police heavily outnumbered strikers and regularly prevented busloads of striking miners from getting to their destinations many miles away. |
| In the Guardian last week, Simon Jenkins was dismissive of attempts to hold an inquiry into police conduct and endorsed Amber Rudd’s stance. “Orgreave was miserable for those involved,” he wrote, “but pit closures are history. The miners were victims of that history, as were workers at the same time in dockyards, steel foundries and newspapers. Protest was understandable and probably inevitable. But does [Andy] Burnham really want to go back to subsidising dirty coal?” | In the Guardian last week, Simon Jenkins was dismissive of attempts to hold an inquiry into police conduct and endorsed Amber Rudd’s stance. “Orgreave was miserable for those involved,” he wrote, “but pit closures are history. The miners were victims of that history, as were workers at the same time in dockyards, steel foundries and newspapers. Protest was understandable and probably inevitable. But does [Andy] Burnham really want to go back to subsidising dirty coal?” |
| Jenkins, one of my favourite political commentators, misses the point entirely. The conduct of the police raises questions about the extent to which a UK government, acting without the consent of parliament or the people, can suddenly suspend the normal checks and balances on the forces of law and order. These are principally to ensure that they are governed by the law we ask them to uphold. During the strike, there is clear evidence that, for a year or so, they were a private army of the Tories, enforcing martial law on workers who were fighting for their livelihoods, their way of life and their communities. | Jenkins, one of my favourite political commentators, misses the point entirely. The conduct of the police raises questions about the extent to which a UK government, acting without the consent of parliament or the people, can suddenly suspend the normal checks and balances on the forces of law and order. These are principally to ensure that they are governed by the law we ask them to uphold. During the strike, there is clear evidence that, for a year or so, they were a private army of the Tories, enforcing martial law on workers who were fighting for their livelihoods, their way of life and their communities. |
| In the midst of the dispute, the Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, asked Gordon Brown, then MP for Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline East, and Merlyn Rees, home secretary in the Jim Callaghan government, to compile a report into aspects of the strike. | In the midst of the dispute, the Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, asked Gordon Brown, then MP for Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline East, and Merlyn Rees, home secretary in the Jim Callaghan government, to compile a report into aspects of the strike. |
| Kinnock wanted to see if there were grounds for an inquiry into “questions raised about relations between the police and the public as a result of experiences in the course of the mining dispute”. The report is required reading for anyone concerned about how the police can be used by the state to turn on the people they are sworn to protect. | Kinnock wanted to see if there were grounds for an inquiry into “questions raised about relations between the police and the public as a result of experiences in the course of the mining dispute”. The report is required reading for anyone concerned about how the police can be used by the state to turn on the people they are sworn to protect. |
| Early on, the report raises alarms: “The dispute saw the deployment of large numbers of policemen from one force to another organised in police units. All 43 police forces in England and Wales were on the move to provide mutual aid and on a massive scale, with convoys on the motorway reminiscent of the war years. There was a similar if smaller movement in Scotland. This mutual aid was on a scale undreamed of in 1960; it undoubtedly raises constitutional issues.” | Early on, the report raises alarms: “The dispute saw the deployment of large numbers of policemen from one force to another organised in police units. All 43 police forces in England and Wales were on the move to provide mutual aid and on a massive scale, with convoys on the motorway reminiscent of the war years. There was a similar if smaller movement in Scotland. This mutual aid was on a scale undreamed of in 1960; it undoubtedly raises constitutional issues.” |
| Thatcher called the miners “the enemy within”, a vile slur on families and neighbourhoods who had sacrificed hundreds of thousands of their own and whose industry had kept the lights on in Britain’s darkest hour. The Scottish government has a chance to grant justice for our wronged miners, instead of merely talking about it. | Thatcher called the miners “the enemy within”, a vile slur on families and neighbourhoods who had sacrificed hundreds of thousands of their own and whose industry had kept the lights on in Britain’s darkest hour. The Scottish government has a chance to grant justice for our wronged miners, instead of merely talking about it. |