No Orgreave Enquiry

[ivor4781]

good what waste of public money!
as said no charges were brought .no one died,and the miners gave as good as they got
move on

[bhg481]

The trouble with enquiries like this is that both sides have already made up their minds and, if the verdict doesn't go their way, will claim whitewash.

[mikey4444]

The Tories have too many skeletons in their cupboards, to allow an Independent Enquiry to take place, so this disgraceful decision today comes as no surprise to me whatsoever.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37826507

From the BBC Link above ::::

"Calls for an Orgreave inquiry escalated following the conclusion of the two-year Hillsborough inquests, which provided a scathing assessment of the under-fire South Yorkshire Police force's behaviour"

Its the South Yorkshire Police again. You would have thought that this Government would have learnt its lesson, when dealing with this discredited
body, but nothing appears to have changed.

[ivor4781]

And neither did the labour government let an enquiry go ahead..
.

[mikey4444]

Ivor...yes you are correct, but now that the duplicitous nature of the SYP has been exposed, this enquiry should now go ahead. I don't trust the SYP one inch, when it comes to them telling the truth. They lied through their teeth over Hillsboro.

But those Tory skeletons are too strong it would seem.

[ToraToraTora]

good nowt to enquire about it was all on TV.

[ChillDoubt]

As the stepson of a miner who spent 37 years in the pit I am relieved to see a sensible decision from this government.

[askyourgran]

I agree no inquiry, the miners were being bussed in to Orgreave from all over the country to stop anyone going to work at the plant, Rentamob. The Police were there to prevent trouble, but of course trouble is what Scargill wanted, and he had it orchestrated. After all these years it should be left alone.
The Hillsborough Inquiry was a totally different ball of chalk. Just because it was South Yorkshire Police it doesn't mean to say the circumstances were the same. As a point of fact the Police Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire is just as disappointed as the moaning miners, he wants to clear the South Yorkshire Police actions, they had already appointed a team to look into all the correspondence and data with a view to clearing the matter up for once and for all. I think it would be a total waste of money. if there isn't going to be a drubbing for the Police, the miners will still want their pound of flesh however old it may be, whatever the result.

[andy-hughes]

I find myself in two minds about this decision -

On one hand I agree with Ms. Rudd that there is nothing to be gained in terms of changing police procedures, which have changed out of all recognition in the intervening time (I refuse to use the odious pious phrase 'lessons have been learned') and we must be wary of using hindsight to try and adjust historical facts.

But on the other hand, the fact that Cabinet papers are sealed for up to seventy years hints at the desire to protect Mrs. Thatcher's legacy, when there is little doubt that she perceived the miners as the enemy within to be crushed. The rumours are that she was directing police operations personally during the days that led up to Orgreave, behaviour which would lead to some serious questions about the level of power she was exercising over the legal system and appropriate application of police procedures and due legal process.

There is no doubt that this issue has been badly handled, the promise of an enquiry followed by a refusal does leave a bad taste, but on balance, I do believe the decision is the right one.

[DannytheRed]

Andy-Hughes, I agree with your 'second mind'. The issue is not so much about the police, but about the possibility / likelihood / certainty of Thatcher's direction of the police to engage in criminal behaviour and then lie in court, doing continuing damage to public respect for the police all this time later. There are lessons to be learned, and there is an establishment cover-up.

[dannyk13]

The complaints are against South Yorkshire Police but there were several other police forces drafted in and it is feasible to assume that South Yorkshire Police are not entirely to blame

[naomi24]

The other side of the coin? This from Wiki: //Mass picketing had proved successful at the Battle of Saltley Gate in Saltley, Birmingham, during the 1972 miners' strike. At Saltley Coke Works, 30,000 pickets and supporters led by Scargill had faced 800 police officers….

…..As a direct result of Saltley, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) established the National Reporting Centre (NRC) which would be "operationalised in times of industrial or political crisis [to provide] a coordinated national response to demands on policing.//

[youngmafbog]

It would be pointless. Too long ago.

And as pointed out why didnt labour do one?

All this is clearly about compo and labour being 'shocked'.

[andy-hughes]

YMB - to be fair, I think Labour's position is one of surprise that, having advised that an enquiry would take place, the government have now about-turned on that position.

There would be no 'compo' - no-one was wrongly convicted because no-one was convicted at all.

[youngmafbog]

I'm not sure the ambulance chasing lawyers will see it that way and if there is now way for any compo then what really is the point of an expensive enquiry especially since many of the police chiefs are either dead or senile.

All these equines do is produce a whitewash and line the pockets of some cronies for producing said whitewash. Meanwhile we have Police forces saying they are so broke they wont investigate Burglary!

[andy-hughes]

YMB - the point of the enquiry from the point of view of those who were injured, or had their court cases thrown out, there would be the satisfaction of knoweing whether or not the police were corrupt in their response, and whether or not, as is suspected, they were being directed personally by the PM at the time.

That does not involve lawyers or compo - just a search for the truth which is hidden in concealed government documents which would have had to have been produced and read.

[mikey4444]

10Clarionst....well said at 14:15 !

The people of Liverpool had to wait years for a proper Enquiry into Hillsboro....lets hope everybody associated with Orgreave can wait as long.

[New Judge]

“…but about the possibility / likelihood / certainty of Thatcher's direction of the police to engage in criminal behaviour and then lie in court,”

Which they could not have done had large numbers of “flying pickets” not been bussed in in an attempt to prevent people attending their place of work.

“…but it is the alleged illegal actions of the police at the time that is being questioned. I've no doubt they were acting under specific orders from the Home Office.”

I sincerely hope so. Nice to know that the Home Office was controlling the police on our behalf and that they were not simply allowed to “go rogue”.

But, hey-ho, water under the bridge and all that.

[andy-hughes]

New Judge - the police had no need to 'go rogue', the Prime Minister and the Home Office were busy doing that for them!