Nick Thomas-Symonds MP welcomes Labour government’s launch of Orgreave Inquiry to “finally uncover the truth”
Torfaen MP Nick Thomas-Symonds has welcomed last week’s decision by the Labour Government to formally launch a statutory inquiry into the violent events at Orgreave in 1984, delivering long-overdue answers for miners, their families and communities.
Chaired by the Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Revd Dr Pete Wilcox, the Inquiry will investigate the clashes between police and picketing miners at Orgreave Coking Plant on 18 June 1984, which resulted in 95 arrests and numerous injuries. Those arrested were charged with riot and unlawful assembly, but all charges were later dropped after police evidence was discredited.
For years, campaigners, former mineworkers and their families called for an inquiry, only to be repeatedly ignored and turned away by previous governments. The announcement marks a decisive step toward uncovering the truth and delivering the accountability they have long been denied.
Several MPs who campaigned alongside former mineworkers, their families and other campaigners to secure an Inquiry, including Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, Welsh Labour’s MP for Torfaen, have welcomed its launch.
The terms of reference have been developed in consultation with the Chair following engagement with campaigners, policing bodies and local representatives.
They place a strong emphasis on transparency, with the Inquiry set to use its statutory powers to access material from police, government, trade unions, media organisations and other bodies.
The four panel members supporting the Chair have also been confirmed, bringing expertise across policing, trade unions, law and historical research.
The Inquiry will examine planning by police and government ahead of the demonstration, the events of the day and their aftermath, and the treatment of those arrested, including the collapse of prosecutions.
It will also establish a publicly accessible digital archive of disclosed material.
Labour’s Minister of State for Policing and Crime, Sarah Jones MP, said:
“For more than four decades miners, their families and their communities have lived with unanswered questions about what happened at Orgreave. We have delivered on our promise to these tireless campaigners to ensure the facts finally come to light.
“The terms of the Inquiry have been shaped by the Chair’s close engagement with campaigners, and they place transparency at the very heart of the panel’s work.
“I am confident that they will bring the independence, expertise and balance needed to uncover the truth of what happened — however difficult that truth may be.”
Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, Labour MP for Torfaen said:
“This is a long-overdue moment for former miners, their families and communities who have fought tirelessly for justice. For decades, they have been denied the truth about what happened at Orgreave.
“I pay tribute to the campaigners who never gave up. This Inquiry is a vital step towards accountability, and towards rebuilding trust with communities who were let down for far too long.
“After years of inaction, it has taken a Labour government to finally deliver the answers that people deserve.”
