Inquiry launched into events of Battle of Orgreave to establish truth

An independent inquiry into the violent policing at the Battle of Orgreave has launched, with a pledge to “establish the truth”.

The inquiry, announced by then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in July, will investigate the events surrounding June 18, 1984, which saw police officers attacking striking miners picketing against planned mine closures.

A four-person panel, chaired by Bishop of Sheffield Pete Wilcox, is expected to report by spring 2028.

Policing minister Sarah Jones 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.”

General secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers Chris Kitchen welcomed the launch and said the union is “fully committed to assisting the inquiry in its work”.

“Our hope is that once the truth has been brought to light, those directly and indirectly affected can finally start to move on.”

Steve Wright, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said his union remains proud to have stood in solidarity with miners during the strike action of 1984/85 “in defence of their jobs and communities against the onslaught of the Thatcher government”.

He said: “The voices of miners at Orgreave that day, who were subject to sickening violence at the hands of a semi-militarised police force, must be at the heart of this process.

“It’s critical that there is real consideration of the way the full force of the state was deployed by Thatcher’s government to crush the NUM.”

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