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It’s time for truth and justice
The uncovering of new files by the home affairs select committee has again raised the need for a full inquiry into what happened at Orgreave and afterwards, writes DIANE ABBOTT
A phalanx of South Yorkshire Police face the picket line outside Orgreave coking plant in 1984

UNRELEASED files about the 1984 Battle of Orgreave from five police forces have recently been uncovered by the cross-party House of Commons home affairs select committee.

This material includes files from the Merseyside, Metropolitan, Norfolk, Northumbria and West Yorkshire police forces, including reports from senior “liaison” officers for units deployed at Orgreave. At least two Met police files have also been identified as containing information relating to Orgreave.

The uncovering of these new files swiftly followed the recent identification of nearly 800 unreleased South Yorkshire police files that were not considered when the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, ruled out an independent public inquiry or statutory inquiry into Orgreave in October 2016.

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