ARTHUR SCARGILL said today that the 1984-85 miners’ strike would have ended differently had Britain not been a member of the EU.

He was speaking before the Socialist Labour Party’s “We had the vote: Leave the EU now” conference in Birmingham on Saturday.

The former National Union of Mineworkers leader, who now heads the party, pointed out that EU state aid laws frustrated attempts to fund pits in order to keep them open.

“We were not allowed to subsidise pits under EU rules unless we were closing them. That’s the kind of policies that were being dictated to us by the European Union,” he said.

Mr Scargill also lamented the decimation of manufacturing after Britain joined the EU. He said that cotton mills and steel plants need to be reopened, with investment in new mining facilities with carbon capture to create jobs and protect the environment.

Speakers at the conference, which seeks to discuss the positive potential of Brexit, will include speakers such as leading anti-EU trade unionist Doug Nicholls and former Syriza MP Costas Lapavitsas.

It will be held from 1.30 to 5pm on Saturday October 27 at the Quaker Meeting House in Bull Street, Birmingham. Admission is free.