A SCOTTISH MP is urging Keir Starmer to get behind a bill that would pardon miners convicted during the 1980s strikes and open the door to a UK-wide compensation scheme.
Owen Thompson introduced his Miners’ Strike (Pardons) Bill to the House of Commons before Christmas, aiming to push Westminster to follow Scotland’s lead in pardoning those convicted of certain offences during industrial action against pit closures in 1984/95.
An equivalent bill was passed at Holyrood in 2022 but the Scottish Government insisted it was down to Westminster to devise a compensation scheme.
Thompson has stressed not only would legislation for England and Wales level the matter up across the UK, but would pave the way for a compensation scheme to be drawn up – something it is widely believed could not happen without a UK-wide apology.
Unless the current Conservative government decides it wants to adopt the bill, it is unlikely to get a second reading in the Commons, but Thompson wants to keep up the pressure on Starmer with a change of government looking likely this year.
The Midlothian SNP MP – who represents many former coal mining communities – wrote to the Labour leader ahead of lodging the bill but has still received no response despite knowing Labour MPs are supportive of such a move.
Thompson (below) told The National: “I want to pressure the Government, keep it as a live issue, but actually in a scenario where it’s looking more and more likely we will have a Labour government, it’s to try and get them to support it.
“I wrote to Keir Starmer before lodging the bill to ask for assurances they would include it in their manifesto, for example, which I’m not aware we’ve had a reply to yet.
“It would be the right thing to do for them. It’s something I’ve had a couple of debates on in Parliament and there have been Labour members who have been supportive of a pardon and I know still are. That’s why I would like to see the Labour Party adopt it.”
Scottish Labour pushed to secure financial compensation for convicted miners at Holyrood but then-justice secretary Keith Brown insisted it was for the UK Government to create such a scheme.
Brown said he wrote to the UK Government urging it to consider launching an inquiry into the miners’ strike and a possible compensation scheme.
A UK-wide pardon would also help Scottish miners who now live in England and Wales and are not covered by the Scottish law’s remit.
Having grown up in Loanhead – where the Bilston Glen Colliery was, in his words, “one of the epicentres” of action during the strike – Thompson said he felt pushing for a UK-wide apology was the only way to move towards getting compensation for his now constituents.
And he stressed that time is running out to introduce a scheme. Former Labour councillor and campaigner for miners’ rights Alex Bennett – who was arrested for breach of the peace during the 1980s – died last year.
He told Holyrood magazine in 2022 that if he’d been given redundancy when he was sacked by the coal board in 1984 he’d have been eligible for around £27,000, but he got nothing.
Thompson said: “In Scotland we’re very fortunate and it’s very welcome where we got to [with the pardon], but the Scottish Government have always been clear that to go to the next step and have a compensation scheme, it would need a UK-wide system.
“There should be a compensation scheme and time is running out. Alex Bennet, who I put a joint motion forward with to Midlothian Council years ago on this, died last year.
“He saw the Scottish Parliament pass a pardon but he’s not bene able to see the other side of that [a compensation scheme] and there will be countless others in positions like that who may or may not see it.
“If I want to see a compensation scheme in place for my constituents and if the only mechanism for me to be able to do that is through a UK-wide pardon, by pushing forward a UK pardon I can then get to the point of pushing a compensation scheme that can benefit my constituents.
“Without the England and Wales pardon, it doesn’t look like that would be an option.”
The Tory government shut down dozens of coal pits in the early 1980s, resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs and mass long-term unemployment.
Then prime minister Margaret Thatcher also tried to crush the power of the unions during a bitter year-long strike which saw violent clashes and arrests.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coalfield Communities at Westminster – of which Thompson is vice-chair - set up an inquiry last year which highlighted shocking statistics stating the average life expectancy in the former coalfields as a whole is a full year less than the national average.
Thompson added: “When Scotland becomes independent, we could do a compensation scheme, but I do want to take every opportunity to make it happen as quickly as possible and will continue to raise debates on it.”
UK Labour have been approached for comment.
