Convicted strikers could be pardoned

Hundreds of Scottish miners convicted during the strikes of the 1980s could be pardoned.

Justice Secretary Humza Yo us a fis due to make an announcement on the matter to Scottish Parliament next month. It comes after a report into the treatment of miners, led by John Scott QC, was delivered to ministers.

According to reports, there view said miners believed they had been treated in a “grossly excessive manner”, adding that it was “hard to disagree”.

It said :“The impact of convictions went beyond the men affected, touching their families and communities, both in terms of their financial consequences of dismissal and unemployment, as well as confidence in the police, judiciary and the state.

“Dismissals followed, in many cases with pensions reduced or lost and re - employment thereafter impossible to secure for many. This encountered a sense of arbitrariness, even injustice.”

The strikes, often accompanied by violence at picket lines, followed the National Coal Board’s plan for pit closures with up to 100,000 jobs losses nationwide. Polmaise, near Stirling, Bilston Glen in Midlothian and Monktonhall in East Lothian were among those hit by the worst consequences of the action.