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18 March 2022
Miners convicted of offences during the 1984-85 strike should be given an automatic pardon to help heal divides in former mining communities, according to Holyrood’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee.
In a report published today, the Committee backed plans by the Scottish Government in the Miners' Strike (Pardons) (Scotland) Bill to provide a blanket pardon to those convicted of certain offences during the strike. Doing so, the report says, would help right the wrongs that many communities suffered during the strike. An automatic pardon, the Committee believes, will go some way to providing justice for families affected.
The proposals would pardon those convicted of offences which occurred during the course of a miner’s participation at a picket line, demonstration, or other similar gathering in supporting the strikes or while travelling to or from a picket line or demonstration.
The report acknowledges the significant impact of convictions to individuals – from a loss of income due to redundancy to a loss of employment rights such as redundancy payments, pension rights and future prospects which were prejudiced due to having a conviction.
The Committee acknowledges that many of the issues around compensation are reserved to the UK Government and therefore implementing a compensation scheme in Scotland would create significant practical difficulties that would delay the passage of the Bill and that compensation moves the Bill away from its intention of having a symbolic effect. Therefore, the Committee does not believe this Bill is the appropriate mechanism for delivering compensation.
However, the Committee notes calls from the Scottish Government for the UK Government to undertake a full public inquiry into the miners’ strike. As part of any inquiry, the Committee would like to see the options for compensation for miners and their families reconsidered.
Having heard conflicting accounts from witnesses as part of their extensive evidence on the policing of the strike and the role of the judiciary, the Committee wants to see an investigation into how the strike was policed and managed. Such an investigation, the report notes, is long overdue and the most appropriate method would be as part of a full public inquiry by the UK Government.
Speaking as the report was launched, Committee Convener Joe FitzPatrick MSP said:
“The miners’ strike left a lasting psychological and economic impact on communities across Scotland. The effects of which are still felt to this day.
“Having heard first-hand about the stigma and pain experienced by those who took part in the strike, we believe an automatic pardon will go some way to providing justice for families affected.
“The Committee recommend that the general principles of the Bill are agreed to and we look forward to hearing more from the Scottish Government about what further work it plans to undertake to continue to help rebuild these communities.”
In 2018, the Scottish Government launched an independent review of the policing of the miners’ strike. The review specifically looked at the impact the policing had had on communities.
The independent review's final report was published in 2020. The report recommended that the Scottish Government should pardon people convicted of certain offences related to the strike.
In October 2020, the Scottish Government announced that it had accepted in principle the Independent Review’s recommendation on pardons but would consider the qualifying consideration that might apply to the pardon.
In March 2021, the Scottish Government launched its consultation into the qualifying criteria for the pardon. The consultation ran until 4 June 2021. The Scottish Government published its response to the consultation on 13 September 2021 which stated that the findings from the consultative response indicated that there was broad support for the pardon and that the only relevant qualifying criteria should be the range of offences to be covered by the pardon.
The Committee undertook a call for written evidence between 3 December 2021 and 14 January 2022. It received 48 submissions.
Read the written submissions on Citizen Space
The Committee began taking oral evidence on the Bill on 23 November 2021 when it heard from the Scottish Government’s Bill Team. It continued taking oral evidence during January and February 2022.