Cries of “shameful” ring out in Commons as Rudd says no to Orgreave inquiry

Labour MPs have condemned the “appalling” decision by Amber Rudd to rule out an inquiry into the events at Orgreave more than 30 years ago.

MPs including Hilary Benn, Dan Jarvis and Sarah Champion spoke out after Rudd, the Home Secretary, surprised many by saying there was not a “sufficient basis” for a new probe despite huge public anger over the conduct of South Yorkshire police in the 1980s.

Campaigners, who met Rudd last month, had hoped she would order a new inquiry into the violence used by police against striking miners in 1984, in what was dubbed the “Battle of Orgreave”. It was followed allegations of police misconduct and a resulting cover-up which have persisted ever since.

Ministers had been expected to launch an inquiry into the way the police handled the situation, following an independent inquiry that finally reached “justice” for victims of the Hillsborough tragedy earlier this year. But Rudd this afternoon ruled out another inquiry into the same police force that had been found guilty of “gross negligence” at the football stadium disaster.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott slammed today’s decision as a “grave injustice”, while Andy Burnham, a prominent campaigner for the 96 victims of Hillsborough and their families, lambasted the announcement as an “establishment stitch-up”.

Gill Furniss, Labour’s shadow minister for the steel industry, said that she was “shocked” by the decision, but pledged: “The fight for #orgreavejustice will go on.”

There has been immediate and widespread condemnation from Labour MPs, with Sheffield MP Louise Haigh saying that Rudd’s decision is “absolutely appalling”. Her sentiments have been echoed by fellow Yorkshire MPs such as Benn, Jarvis and Champion, who said that she was “spitting feathers” over the announcement.

Labour had been pushing for an inquiry to take place, with Abbott saying this morning that the “demands for a proper inquiry are fully justified”.

In a statement this afternoon, Rudd said: “This has been a difficult decision to make, and one which I have thought about very carefully. I have now concluded that there is not a sufficient basis for me to instigate either a statutory inquiry or an independent review.

“The campaigners say that had the consequences of the events at Orgreave been addressed properly at the time, the tragic events at Hillsborough would never have happened five years later. That is not a conclusion which I believe can be reached with any certainty,” she added.