Miners' strike Scotland anniversary: Fresh call for public inquiry into policing of 1984/85 strike

Richard Leonard, the former Scottish Labour leader, said ex-miners and their families ‘deserve justice’

Fresh calls have been made for a public inquiry into the policing of the 1984/85 miners' strike as campaigners mark 40 years since it began.

Richard Leonard, a Labour MSP and former party leader in Scotland, said the fact miners north of the border were twice as likely to be arrested than anywhere else in the UK should be taken into account. Scottish ministers previously commissioned an independent review into the impact of policing on communities during the strike, which was led by John Scott QC.

Legislation was passed in 2022 to pardon those convicted of offences relating to strike action. However, this did not offer the prospect of compensation, as some had called for.

Police restrain picketers outside a pit during the miners' strike in the 1980s

Around 1,400 miners were arrested during the strike in Scotland, with more than 500 convicted.

Mr Leonard said: “The whole might of the state was brought to bear on the miners, their families and their communities, and the effects are still being felt today as those injustices have still not been fully resolved.

“There must be a full public inquiry into the policing of the strike and that must include the disproportionate treatment of miners by the police in Scotland. The former miners and their families are heroes and they deserve justice.”

Mr Leonard has tabled a motion in Holyrood that describes the strike as “without parallel, the most significant industrial dispute since the 1926 general strike”. It adds: “The strike could not have endured without public support, including from women’s groups, the lesbian and gay community, trade unions and workers across the world.”

The motion “notes the belief that there is continuing need for investment in mining communities, and further notes the call for a public inquiry into the policing of the strike”.

Mr Leonard has also secured cross-party support for a permanent memorial to be erected in Holyrood to the Scottish miners’ leader Mick McGahey.

He previously said Mr McGahey was a “working-class hero”, adding: “He was a man of integrity and intellect, a socialist and an internationalist. It would be more than fitting for our Parliament to hold a permanent reminder of his contribution to Scottish history.”