Orgreave snub a mistake, says Kinnock

FORMER Labour leader Lord Kinnock has warned that the Government’s refusal to hold an Orgreave inquiry will deepen “the justified sense of injustice” in coalfield communities.

Kinnock, who was party leader at the time of the miners’ strike, criticised Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s decision not to hold a public inquiry into clashes between police and miners at Orgreave.

The Government had promised to govern in the interests of the whole country and should ensure “maximum transparency and accountability for the whole country,” he told the Lords.

He added: “Refusal of an inquiry into the battle of Orgreave deepens the justified sense of injustice right across coalfield communities, especially when there are substantiated claims that there was politicised policing and tampering with evidence in the wake of the conflict.”