A PANEL reviewing policing in Scotland during the 1984-85 miners’ strike should consider recommending that convicted pickets be pardoned, Labour MSP Neil Findlay said yesterday.

Some 500 arrests were made in Scotland during the dispute, which shut down much of Britain’s mining capacity over proposed pit closures.

Scottish miners were disproportionately arrested, with 30 per cent of the sackings after arrest in Britain occurring north of the border, despite the country making up just 10 per cent of the mining workforce.