AFTER many years of dedicated, intensive campaigning, the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) is pleased that the government finally launched the start of the Orgreave Inquiry in March 2026 after its announcement last July.

The Tories consistently rejected setting up an inquiry. While we are disappointed that it has taken so long to come to this stage, we are relieved that work is now beginning to establish the truth about the Tory government involvement and police conduct at Orgreave on June 18 1984 during the 1984-5 miners’ strike. This is a victory after years of campaigning but it is a scandal that this has taken 42 years to happen and we now need to make sure the inquiry delivers the truth and justice so long overdue.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), social justice activists, campaigners, lawyers, trade unions and politicians have tried since 1984 to expose what happened throughout the miners’ strike and at Orgreave.

The OTJC and supporters have campaigned since 2012 for an Orgreave Inquiry and it has been a long and difficult journey. Our determination and tenacity has however received much support from many individuals and organisations whose wonderful solidarity has made it possible to continue and be able to come this far.

This is a statutory inquiry, with the terms of reference and a panel membership established by the government. We have, however, tried our best to influence the process to ensure this does not become a police and Home Office-led inquiry but one shaped by the miners and their experiences.

This 42nd anniversary year of the miners’ strike reminds us that we must never forget the importance of that great strike against the Tory pit closure programme and to defend an industry, jobs, trade unions and communities and the fight for all our futures.

We are indebted to the striking miners and their families for their dedication and sacrifice to that year-long struggle that changed all our lives forever.

The 1980s Tory Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher, Leon Brittan, Nigel Lawson, Norman Tebbit and others, along with their secret “Misc 101” Committee, planned to destroy the British coal industry and organised labour, the National Union of Mineworkers, its leaders Arthur Scargill, Peter Heathfield and Mick McGahey and the British labour and trade union movement.

We knew at the time that the government of the 1980s was directly involved in the miners’ strike while professing “non-involvement.” The Tory Ridley plan of the 1970s exposes how far they were prepared to go and the Tory government put vast amounts of public resources into the implementation of this plan.

This was state-sponsored organisation against the miners and their livelihoods. The Tories’ own archives confirm that Parliament and the public were lied to. Their involvement in the strike and the policing of it has never been publicly acknowledged.

The mass media colluded with the Tories by lying in their headlines and reports about what was really happening, or not reporting it at all. Their collaboration in these government and police lies and cover-ups is perpetuated and continues to this day, demonising and vilifying strikers and protesters. The raw footage that many media companies and photographers have of police attacking miners at Orgreave and other footage of police violence and harassment throughout the strike must be handed over to this inquiry. The right to strike and the right to protest should be a fundamental human right.

The Orgreave Inquiry needs to give answers about the systemic violent and lying behaviour of the police, the role of the judiciary and security services. We need to know about plans of how police officers on the ground were briefed and how that briefing came about.

We need government and police papers releasing that have been embargoed until 2066 and 2071. The police have still been destroying vital evidence needed for this inquiry. It is of great public interest and concern that a government actively worked against its own population, handed the police paramilitary powers and destroyed an industry in the process.

Orgreave marked a turning point in the policing of public protest. With no accountability of policing at Orgreave, a message was sent to the police that they could employ violence and tell lies with impunity. This set a culture for violent militarised police to run riot throughout mining communities and villages all over Britain. It enabled a culture for the police to maintain lies and cover-ups in 1989 at Hillsborough. The Hillsborough campaigners are still fighting for justice to this day.

It was only a year after Orgreave that the “Battle of the Beanfield” took place, with violent and unprovoked attacks by the police on a New Age Travellers peace convoy going to a festival, followed by large-scale mass wrongful arrests. Police conduct later at Wapping in 1986 throughout the print workers’ dispute involved them using riot tactics and mounted charges and arrests against peaceful demonstrators.

Inappropriate and aggressive policing has continued years after Orgreave with recent examples of police violence and “kettling” demonstrators for several hours — a kind of pre-emptive  imprisonment. With the government’s current raft of policing and other legislation aiming to further restrict our rights and freedoms, the right to protest in public is in serious danger.

Due to the age and health of many miners we need to quickly secure a public acknowledgement of why and what the state did to the miners and communities. An inquiry of full disclosure should influence the future behaviour of the state and public officials. The inquiry panel and resources committed to this inquiry should establish truth and justice. The campaign is encouraging as many people as possible to come forward and submit information to the inquiry panel.

Join us in Sheffield at our Annual Orgreave Anniversary March and Rally today Saturday June 13 2026. Assemble 12.30pm for a 1pm start, City Hall, Barkers Pool, Sheffield, S1 2JA to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the police riot at Orgreave and celebrate the great miners’ strike of 1984-5. We will march to reinforce that the Orgreave Inquiry is for truth and justice for striking miners brutalised by the state.

The anniversary event will as always provide a wonderful atmosphere of support and togetherness and an opportunity for people to gather to meet old friends and create new connections and friendships. There will be some important speeches from respected trade unionists, campaigners and activists and wonderful music from some great musicians. We look forward to seeing you there.

Contact the Orgreave Inquiry: www.orgreave.public-inquiry.uk; email: legal@orgreave.public-inquiry.uk; write to:
Freepost ORGREAVE INQUIRY.

Kate Flannery is secretary of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign.