THE UK Government will be pressed to overturn the convictions of hundreds of miners during the 1980s strikes by an SNP MP.
Owen Thompson, who represents many former mining communities in his Midlothian constituency, will present a bill to the UK Parliament on Tuesday calling for a law change to pardon convicted miners.
He has previously argued in the Commons for the need to address what he calls a “historical injustice”.
Miners arrested in Scotland during the 1984/85 strike have already been pardoned thanks to MSPs passing legislation in Holyrood last year, and Thompson wants to see that reflected in England and Wales.
Thompson has previously called for Labour leader Keir Starmer to back his campaign by including a pardon for English and Welsh miners in his General Election manifesto but has yet to receive a response.
He said the convictions miners received were a “travesty of justice”.
“A Miners' Pardon would be a powerful symbol of reconciliation,” said Thompson.
“It would show we are prepared to put the past behind us and move on. “The miners' strike of 1984-1985 was one of the most bitter and divisive events in British history. It was a time when the miners, who were fighting for their jobs and their communities, were met with the full force of the state. “Under Thatcher, thousands of miners were arrested and many were convicted of offences such as breach of the peace, obstruction of the police and breach of bail conditions. These convictions were a travesty of justice - they were fighting for their livelihoods and the future of their communities.
The Miners’ Strike (Pardons) (Scotland) Act 2022 took effect from July last year and provides a collective and automatic pardon to former miners, household members of a miner, parents, siblings and children of a miner who were convicted for a breach of the peace, breaching bail conditions and an offence under section 41 (1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 such as police obstruction.
A push by Labour to secure financial compensation failed, with former justice secretary Keith Brown saying at the time it was for the UK Government to create such a scheme.
He wrote to the UK Government urging it to consider launching an inquiry into the miners’ strike and a possible compensation scheme for those convicted of crimes.
