The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, has announced a statutory inquiry into the violent policing at the Orgreave coking plant during the 1984 miners' strike and the subsequent collapse of prosecutions against 95 miners. The decision, made public on Thursday at the site in South Yorkshire, follows decades of campaigning by activists who argue the incident remains a source of injustice.
The inquiry will examine the events of 18 June 1984, when around 8,000 miners assembled for a mass picket and were met by 6,000 police officers led by South Yorkshire Police. The clashes, which included police charging on horseback and using truncheons, resulted in numerous injuries. Official reports later recorded 72 officers injured, though the National Union of Mineworkers has long maintained that police violence was pre-planned and that the extent of miners' misbehaviour was exaggerated.
The Home Office stated that the criminal charges against 95 miners were dropped after evidence was discredited, with campaigners describing the prosecution as a 'frame up'. The inquiry, modelled on the Hillsborough independent panel, will have the power to compel witnesses to provide information. It will be chaired by the Bishop of Sheffield, Pete Wilcox, who previously worked on the Hillsborough panel.
Cooper, who represents a former mining area in West Yorkshire, said the miners' strike still leaves 'deep scars' across coalfield communities. She emphasised that the inquiry would address both the policing on the day and the collapsed prosecutions, noting that 'people have waited for answers for over 40 years'. The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign welcomed the announcement, with founder member Joe Rollin expressing cautious optimism but stressing the need for continued determination.
