Play a part in getting a pardon for miners
MSP urges families to engage with consultation
Former miners and their families are being encouraged to engage with a Scottish Government consultation on the detail of plans to pardon miners convicted of offences during the 1984-85 strike.
An independent review into the impact of policing on communities during the strike, led by John Scott QC, recommended last year that the Scottish Government should introduce legislation to pardon miners convicted for certain matters related to the strike, subject to establishing suitable criteria.
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf has now launched a consultation seeking views on the qualifying criteria for a pardon.
An inquiry event in Fallin previously heard from a number of witnesses who experienced both direct and indirect wrongs as a result of the handling of the strike, including the employment status and subsequent careers of the strikers who were targeted, and the impact on family life.
The public meeting had heard that support for the strike at Polmaise Colliery at that time was 100 per cent but that there was still a larger than ever police presence in residential streets in Fallin.
When recalling the strike, men on all sides also described the lasting trauma experienced, with the inquiry findings describing “moving testimony from miners and police officers, struggling with the thought of a time in their lives which they had to endure”
The then Stirling District Council was said to have helped many of the miners by later employing them despite criminal convictions acquired due to the strike and was among the local authorities who used discretionary powers under social work legislation to assist needy families of striking miners. Local schools also helped by providing free school meals.
Clackmannanshire and Dunblane MSP Keith Brown this week encouraged former miners and their families locally to engage with the consultation.
He said: “I welcomed the recommendation from the Scott review that legislation should be introduced to pardon miners convicted of certain offences relating to the strike. This consultation is part of the process towards bringing that about and I would encourage anyone with an interest in the outcome, particularly former miners and the families of former miners, to get involved and share their views on the matter.
“The strike may have taken place over 35 years ago, but there is still much anger in many of our local communities about how the miners were treated – and rightly so.
“For decades, hundreds of men and their families have had to deal with the consequences of the strike and the convictions they received for their part in it.
“Former miners have waited a very long time for justice. It is, sadly, too late for some but this is an opportunity to put right some historic wrongs.”
Mr Yousaf said: “The miners’ strike was one of the most bitter and divisive industrial disputes in living memory and I hope that the independent review, this consultation and the legislation for a pardon will go some way to aid reconciliation – and to help heal wounds within Scotland’s mining communities.
“I have again written to the Home Secretary Priti Patel renewing the call for her to instruct a full UK public inquiry into the policing of the strike.”
People can read and respond to the consultation – which runs until June 4, on the Citizen Space website.
Strike may have taken place over 35 years ago but there is still much anger in our communities