Yvette Cooper

For more than four decades, miners and their families have campaigned for an investigation into policing on what is remembered as the most violent day of the 1984/85 strike.

The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) has described the events as “one of the most serious abuses of power by police and government in this country’s industrial and trade union history, the truth of which has never been told or acknowledged by the state”.

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has now confirmed plans for an inquiry beginning later this year and is engaging with the OTJC, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and others on the terms of reference.

“I pay tribute to the campaigners who never stopped in their search for truth and justice, and I look forward to continuing to work with them as we build an inquiry that gets the answers they and their communities deserve,” Ms Cooper said.

Kate Flannery, secretary of the OTJC, said: “We have waited a long time for this day and this is really positive news. All these years of hard work by the OTJC and our many supporters has helped to influence this constructive announcement.

“We appreciate the Labour Party’s nine-year commitment to holding some kind of Orgreave inquiry.

“We now need to be satisfied that the inquiry is given the necessary powers to fully investigate all the aspects of the orchestrated policing at Orgreave, and have unrestricted access to all relevant information including government, police and media documents, photos and films.”

Kevin Horne, a miner who was arrested at Orgreave, said: “It is now over 41 years since a paramilitary style police operation was planned at Orgreave and it is important to remember that some of the miners attacked and arrested there are now dead and many others are old and ill.

“We need a quick and thorough inquiry with a tight timescale so that surviving miners can at last obtain the truth and justice they have been waiting for.

“Plenty of information exists and has already been obtained to give an inquiry a substantial head start.”