ORGREAVE JUSTICE MUST BE DONE AND SEEN TO BE DONE

March 8, 2026 Simon

After almost 42 years of requests and campaigning for an Orgreave Inquiry, the momentous announcement in July 2025 by a Labour Government, that a statutory inquiry would take place in our lifetime was welcomed by many. The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) has spent many years working with miners, campaigners, politicians, lawyers and the wider labour movement, discussing about how to proceed. We have devoted our lives to this. Sadly, many of the miners and other campaigners are now dead, elderly, some in poor health. We waited a long time for an inquiry and when the announcement eventually came we saw it as a step forward for truth and justice about the state orchestrated police brutality, lies and wrongful arrests of striking miners throughout the strike, in particular on 18th June 1984 at Orgreave. The Orgreave Inquiry was expected to start in the Autumn of 2025.

We have long stated that in order for an Orgreave Inquiry to be successful, it must have integrity and inspire confidence, trust and respect. We have made it clear over many years that the Hillsborough Independent Panel model was a useful guide to help to establish an Orgreave Inquiry.

The inquiry must give a voice to those who were the victims of government directed police brutality and not perpetuate the false narrative of the aggressors. We need people to feel confident in giving information to the inquiry; the miners and communities have to be at the forefront, and need to know that their experiences will be taken seriously. It must not become a police-led inquiry.

The OTJC has worked hard to try to influence the way the inquiry should be conducted. It needs to highlight the context of Orgreave, political policing, government policy and the trauma to the miners, communities and economy caused by the injustices meted out by the Conservative government, police, security services, judiciary and media, exposing what really happened, to hold the protagonists to account and to ensure the true narrative of what happened at Orgreave and throughout the year long strike is finally placed in the public domain. The establishment narrative has been a lie and the sustaining of that lie has continued.

We have consistently and forcibly stated that it is not appropriate or necessary to have people from a policing background on the Orgreave Inquiry panel. This is not what we campaigned for and it would be unacceptable. The depth of feeling and hostility towards the police remains. Any police involvement in the main panel of an inquiry would be seen as the police investigating themselves. The inquiry needs to focus on the conduct of the police. We do not want an inquiry that is mistrusted by the miners and communities and is set up to fail before it even starts.

The composition of the main inquiry panel must be balanced and impartial and candidates should be individuals experienced in the work of upholding legal, constitutional and civil liberties with a commitment to the analysis, progression and protection of fundamental and constitutional rights. Expertise in the complex interaction of the law, police, judiciary, media and government is paramount in this inquiry as is industrial relations and medical expertise. The inquiry panel individuals need to command confidence and respect for their presumed knowledge of and experience in what is fundamental to this inquiry’s investigation. Those conducting and administering the inquiry need to be able to convey that they have the necessary wisdom to support such an important inquiry.

The damning documents and other evidence that is already in the public domain, information that has gone missing, embargoed or been destroyed in addition to the many lived experiences of miners, their families and supporters is all evidence of where the truth lies. The truth is there and needs to be articulated appropriately.

This is a critical time for defending the right to protest and freedom of expression. We are saying this before any inquiry panel is announced as there needs to be a truthful and successful outcome. The miners need to have confidence that their experiences will be taken seriously.

This is a statutory inquiry and the Home Secretary will make the final decision about the inquiry panel. We hope an inquiry start date is announced very soon with a panel worthy of conducting this important inquiry. Orgreave justice not only has to be done but seen to be done.