Government announces Orgreave Inquiry, expected to launch in the Autumn

Earlier this week, Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced that the Government would be delivering on its manifesto promise to launch an inquiry into the violent policing of a Miners’ strike picket at the Orgreave Coking plant on the 18th June 1984.

In March 1984, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) called a national strike in protest against the widespread closure of coal pits. One mass picket was organised outside the Orgreave coking plant in June of that year. On the day, reports emerged that police were directing miners to a specific area known as the “topside,” where they were confronted by a force of 6,000 officers drawn from across the country, led by South Yorkshire Police. The scale and violence of the police response have become infamous, with lasting public memory shaped by  images and footage showing officers using extreme force against picketing miners. Miners who had been arrested and charged had their case brough to court a year later, which subsequently fell apart. There was never any investigation into the conduct of the police for assaulting, wrongfully arresting and falsely prosecuting so many miners, nor for lying in evidence, and no officers faced disciplinary or criminal proceedings.

The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, who have long been campaigning for an inquiry into the role of the police and government during the miners’ strike at the Orgreave coking plant on 18th June 1984 and why neither the police or government have ever been held to account. They have said that any inquiry into these events must answer the following questions:

• who was responsible for organising and ordering the deployment of multiple police forces, including mounted police armed with truncheons, shields and dogs, against striking miners?
• who and how was it decided that striking miners should be attacked and arrested at Orgreave and charged with riot and unlawful assembly, which carried heavy prison sentences?
• why has the police operational order for police deployments that day disappeared and other evidence been destroyed or embargoed until 2066 and 2071?

Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign Secretary, Kate Flannery, said:

We have waited a long time for this day and this is really positive news. All these years of hard work by the OTJC and our many supporters has helped to influence this constructive announcement. We appreciate the Labour Party’s 9 year commitment to holding some kind of Orgreave inquiry.  We now need to be satisfied that the inquiry is given the necessary powers to fully investigate all the aspects of the orchestrated policing at Orgreave, and have unrestricted access to all relevant  information including government, police and media documents, photos and films

Kevin Horne, miner arrested at Orgreave said:

It is now over 41 years since a paramilitary style police operation was planned at Orgreave and it is important to remember that some of the miners attacked and arrested there are now dead and many others are old and ill. We need a quick and thorough inquiry with a tight timescale so that surviving miners can at last obtain the truth and justice they have been waiting for. Plenty of information exists and has already been obtained to give an inquiry a substantial head start”

The Inquiry is set to commence in Autumn, and will be chaired by The Rt Rev Dr Pete Wilcox, the Bishop of Sheffield.