TODAY  is the 4th anniversary of the 2016 Tory home secretary Amber Rudd’s decision not to hold any inquiry into the events at Orgreave during the miners’ strike against pit closures in June 1984.

The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) expected her to announce some form of inquiry, due to OTJC legal evidence and comments and questions that both Rudd and previous home secretary Theresa May had made in meetings with the campaign.

In her speech to the 2016 Police Federation conference, May even talked about dealing with historic injustices for those communities which had suffered. 

Rudd had not followed up on the  Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report, which revealed that Orgreave police officers lied and committed perjury. She never asked to see archive material from South Yorkshire Police (SYP) which they had prepared for the Home Office, fully expecting there to be an inquiry.

Rudd’s reasons for rejecting an inquiry were scarcely credible; she said nobody had died, policing had moved on since the 1980s, nothing could be learned from an inquiry, it was a long time ago, people’s memories were affected and many officers involved were no longer serving in the police. Subsequent Home Secretaries Sajid Javid and Priti Patel supported Rudd’s rejection.

Thankfully, no-one died at Orgreave, but many could have with the injuries they sustained. Orgreave defence solicitor Gareth Peirce tried to get medical help for injured miners who had been denied treatment when she arrived at the cells to represent them.

An inquiry into medical records could reveal that miners assaulted by the police sustained and developed serious medical and life-limiting conditions. Policing hasn’t improved and there are many examples of police brutality during arrests, protesters being kettled, mounted police charges into peaceful crowds, police falsifying evidence, lying and behaving with impunity.

Memories may have been affected over time, but there are many photographs and films from Orgreave, showing police charging into and assaulting pickets. Footage from television crews, confiscated by the police, may come to light during an inquiry. Serving and retired officers are subject to the law, and police routinely investigate historic crimes going back decades to bring perpetrators to justice.

Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Neil Findlay has spent years campaigning with miners and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in Scotland for a review of the convictions of Scottish miners during the 1984-5 strike.

Now a judge-led Independent Review in Scotland has recommended that many Scottish miners arrested and charged during the strike should be pardoned.

This week the Scottish government confirmed that it will now be introducing legislation to pardon those convicted. Labour Welsh Assembly Member (AM) Mick Antoniw also continues years of campaigning for an Orgreave inquiry and is working with the Welsh Assembly to call for a UK inquiry into the miners’ strike.

Welcoming the Scottish Review in September 2020, Labour MP Ian Lavery tabled an Early Day Motion asking for a review of policing during the miners’ strike throughout the UK.

Tory MP Chloe Smith’s dismissive response stated that what happens in Scotland is for the Scottish Parliament, that all the Home Office files relating to the strike are in the National Archives and there won’t be an inquiry. She didn’t mention the embargoed key documents in Hull University Library, believed to be Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) papers, not in the public domain, due to be released in 2066.

Policing hasn’t improved and there are many examples of police brutality during arrests, protesters being kettled, mounted police charges into peaceful crowds, police falsifying evidence, lying and behaving with impunity.

Many Orgreave pickets, their families and supporters are sadly no longer with us. They have not seen truth and justice, or had pardons. The tactic of the government is to embargo and ignore key evidence until all the people involved are dead.

This month Labour MP Grahame Morris presented a parliamentary petition to the House of Commons calling for an inquiry into policing at Orgreave and for the UK government to investigate properly the behaviour of the police at Orgreave, highlighting the governments failure on October 31 2016 to order an inquiry into the policing of Orgreave and the strike and reminding the government that their silence is irreconcilable with Scotland and Wales.

Linked to this is the innocuously titled Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill. The government has rushed this “Spycops” Bill through the House of Commons this month aiming to give extended powers to the police and security services, guaranteeing them immunity from prosecution for any crimes they commit when spying on trades unions, campaigners and activists.

In effect, this sanctions torture, rape, sexual violence and murder by the security services, anywhere in this country or worldwide. This government want to destroy civil liberties and human rights. They are the heirs of Thatcher, who called Nelson Mandela a “terrorist.”

The British state has a terrible track record in allowing violence by the police and security services. They have infiltrated trades unions, anti-racist and environmental groups, spied on families including the family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, assaulted travellers at the “Battle of the Beanfield,” incited campaigners to commit criminal acts, fathered children under false identities with women activists who had no idea they were in relationships with undercover operatives.

As a colonial power, they tortured and murdered in the Far East, Indian subcontinent and Africa and murdered civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, all with false narratives and cover-ups. The recent Overseas Operations Bill will prevent the prosecution of military personnel for torture and murder committed abroad.

During the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, the British state used the North of Ireland as a training base for the police, army and security services where aggressive, military style, crowd control and arrest squads training was developed.

The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill......in effect sanctions torture, rape, sexual violence and murder by the security services, anywhere in this country or worldwide.

Kincora Home children were used to entrap sexual predators, who were blackmailed into working for the security services. The “shoot to kill” policy was sanctioned by the government. Information was passed to loyalist murder gangs so that they could kill civil rights activists, Nationalist figures and supporters, and human rights lawyers including Rosemary Nelson and Pat Finucane.

For future Bloody Sundays the armed forces will be protected from prosecution under new legislation.

In England, the state framed and jailed Irish people including the Guildford Four, Birmingham Six and Maguire Seven while in the North of Ireland Diplock Courts were set up, without juries, with pro-government judges imposing the sentences the government required. False narratives of rogue operatives were developed, to deflect from this state-sponsored terrorism.

Thatcher’s cabinet, with home secretary Leon Brittan, demanded courts imposed harsh sentences on pickets during the miners’ strike, and false narratives were used against miners.

We do not need legislation that sanctions further criminal activity by the security services. The OTJC deplores this legislation, and continues to campaign against it as it goes through the House of Lords. We are working with other campaign groups such as the Shrewsbury 24, Police Spies Out Of Lives, Justice 4 Grenfell and the Blacklist Support Group and have publicly thanked MPs who voted against this totalitarian Bill.

Worryingly, the Labour hierarchy whipped their MPs to abstain, emotionally blackmailing them with promises of an inquiry into the injustices of concern to trades unions, and also a draft Bill about Orgreave.

While welcoming the commitment and support for an Orgreave inquiry by the shadow home secretary, the OTJC condemns and distances itself from using this as a tactic to force Labour MPs to abstain.

Our campaign must not be used by the Labour leadership to help the government bring in this repressive legislation. We call on all Labour MPs to publicly support us and publicise our actions on their social media.

Despite the pandemic we remain as active as ever. We ask all our supporters to share and promote our OTJC web links, and social media, to take action and take part in our online events and activities. Please look at our OTJC Take Action page to find out how else you can get involved and contact your MP.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
 
Chris Hockney is chair of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign –
otjc.org.uk