Labour pledges Battle of Orgreave inquiry

Labour has pledged it will launch an inquiry into the Battle of Orgreave, in which striking miners and police violently clashed in 1984, if it wins the general election.

More than 100 picketers and police officers were injured at the coking plant near Rotherham on 18 June, during the most violent clashes of the year-long strike.

Labour's election manifesto has promised “to ensure, through an investigation or inquiry, that the truth about the events at Orgreave comes to light”.

The Conservative government has previously rejected calls for an inquiry, which the then home secretary Amber Rudd said in 2016 would not be in the “public interest”.

The Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and the Green Party have all told the BBC this week they supported an inquiry in principle into events at Orgreave.

The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) has long called for an independent probe into what it said was the “militarised” police operation at Orgreave and “false charges” subsequently brought against striking miners.

A total of 95 men who had been picketing at Orgreave were arrested on 18 June 1984, and faced trial on riot and unlawful assembly charges.

However, the case against them collapsed in court amid allegations that South Yorkshire Police had falsified evidence.

Kate Flannery, the OTJC’s general secretary, said she hoped Labour’s commitment “finally delivers the truth and justice which has been delayed for 40 years”.

She called for campaigners to “have a voice in the way the investigation is structured and run, so we can ensure the whole truth is understood and recognised”.

The BBC has asked Labour for more information about the legal powers, timeframe and expected cost of an inquiry, should the party win the general election on 4 July.

The Conservatives have said they had “no plans to conduct an inquiry into Orgreave”.

Meawhile, the Liberal Democrats said they were “supportive of calls for an inquiry”.

A spokesperson for Reform UK, whose leader Nigel Farage was this week campaigning in former mining areas of Barnsley, said: “In principle we support the idea of an inquiry, but it depends to an extent on its frames of reference.”

The Green Party said it also believed there should be an inquiry into what happened at Orgreave.

A spokesperson said: "There was clear evidence of excessive violence by police and there remain many unanswered questions about police motives and tactics and the role of the Conservative government in what was one of the most violent clashes in British industrial history."

Amber Rudd told MPs in 2016 policing had “changed fundamentally” since the 1984-85 miners’ strike, adding that “there would therefore be very few lessons to learn” from a review.

She said that despite the "forceful accounts” from miners involved in the Battle of Orgreave about its lasting impact on them, “ultimately there were no deaths or wrongful convictions”.

Sir Keir Starmer, who is now the Labour leader, said at the time that the government’s decision was “a big mistake”.

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].