Secret miners’ strike files ‘should be examined’
SECRET files that could contain information about the Orgreave clash between striking miners and police should be examined to assess if they can be made public, an influential Commons committee has said.
A series of intelligence reports and other files relating to the miners’ strike, previously held by the now-defunct Association of Chief Police Officers, are categorised as containing “personal sensitive information” and closed until 2066.
Home Affairs Select Committee chairwoman Yvette Cooper has written to Home Secretary Amber Rudd, asking her to set up a review of the files to see if they can be released.
She said there could be “no more secrets or cover-ups” about what happened. The Government has ruled out holding an inquiry into the events at Orgreave in South Yorkshire in June 1984, when scores of miners were charged over the violence, and many were injured, although all charges were later dropped.
Labour MP Ms Cooper said: “People want to know the truth about what happened at Orgreave, especially in the coalfields.
“Little by little, our questions are uncovering what files and information are still held. Some of the intelligence files we have identified are being withheld until 2066. We have asked the Home Secretary to get those files independently reviewed to see if they can be released instead.”