Anger as Scottish Government reject compensation call for sacked miners

He appealed directly to SNP MSPs representing mining communities to rebel against the government. 

During the strike, 1,400 people were arrested in Scotland, with over 500 convicted.

Approximately 206 miners were dismissed following arrest. Those who were sacked didn't receive redundancy pay and were blacklisted by the National Coal Board, making it difficult to find work.

The legislation follows a recent review into the policing and the prosecution of the miners by human rights lawyer John Scott QC,

In his report, the QC said police officers he had spoken to left him with the distinct impression that in a high number of cases “whether a miner was arrested, was, in reality, a matter of chance”. 

Opening the debate in parliament, Justice Secretary Keith Brown said legislation was about reconciliation. He said the question of compensation was a matter for the UK Government.

He told MSPs: “We have the opportunity to bring some reconciliation to our mining communities. And that should be the objective of this bill. I am clear that the Bill is not about apportioning blame on any particular individual or group of individuals or to question the decisions made by the judiciary at that time.

“The Bill does not intend to rewrite history. Neither does it seek to cast judgement on all the events which happened during the strike.

“We don't have the facility to do that. We neither have the records or the powers to look at all the issues that a full UK public inquiry could perhaps consider.

“By bringing forward the bill the Scottish Government is within its existing powers seeking to recognise disproportionate and often unforeseen, and long-lasting consequences which fell on miners as a result of their convictions.

“The pardon, therefore, symbolises a desire to heal old wounds by removing the stigma of a conviction for those who meet the qualifying criteria.”

Responding, Mr Leonard said: “All of those lives destroyed by the brutality of the dispute cannot be restored. 

“The families ripped apart, cannot be put back together. All of those years lost cannot be refound but we can and we must right historical wrongs.

"Back in 1984-85 the whole might of the state was thrown against the miners against the trade union against their families, their communities, and even against their very way of life. 

“So now it is time all of these years later, for the whole might of the state to be thrown in behind the miners, behind their communities and behind their families. 

“And that is why we say, that is why the miners union says an honest and dignified response to what happened all those years ago is to establish through this bill, the principle of a compensation scheme.

“I have to say to the Cabinet Secretary that this is the glaring omission of the bill. And the excuses for this are many and various, often at odds with each other. It is that employment law and industrial relations are not devolved, or even that this Parliament did not exist in 1984. 

“It is that on the one hand, this parliament is not competent, on the other that time is of the essence. 

"But if it is competent for this Parliament' to pardon the miners for what happened in 1984 85. It must be competent for this parliament to compensate the miners for what happened in 1984 85.”

The Labour MSP pointed to the Scottish Government’s decision to set up the Scottish infected blood Support Scheme to compensate people infected with hepatitis C and HIV, which dates back to 1970s. 

Mr Leonard added: “To those MSPs who are havering about this issue, the question you must ask yourself in the coming weeks is this: if not now, when? If not us who? This is about our soul as a nation, our values as a society, it is about who we are. 

“This is the only chance that we've got to not leave this as unfinished business. Do not settle for mediocrity, extend the pardon, pay compensation, and let’s at last secure justice for the miners.”

Mr Brown later accused the ex-Labour MSP of a "broad based attack on the Scottish Government that leaves an overall consensus looking highly unlikely".

He said this lack of unity could "undermine the effect of the pardon."

The SNP’s Annabelle Ewing said she understood there were “considerable legal and practical challenges involved” in compensation. However, she urged the government to reflect further. 

“For it is beyond doubt that miners suffered financial hardship as a result of the unique set of circumstances of the miners strike of 1984 85. 

“That the circumstances are deemed to be unique is borne out by the fact that the Scottish Government is indeed proceeding with a pardons bill. That such financial hardship was borne by those living in already deprived communities is self evident. 

“That for the most part, there would appear to be a relatively small subset of individuals who would be covered and that there would appear to be precedent for the general principle of natural redress from the state.”

However, the SNP’s Christine Grahame, said that while she was “fairly sympathetic” to the call for compensation, it would let the UK government “off the hook” and mean taking money out of existing budgets. 

“We would have to take it from the budgets that deliver our health service, that deliver our education, to pay for something that was wholly the political fault of a UK Government.”

There was broad agreement that the Bill did not go far enough, as only those on the picket line will be pardoned.

Holyrood's Equalities committee called for family members of miners who were arrested, and arrests that occurred away from the picket line to be covered by the legislation. 

Mr Brown said that would be considered.

The general principles of the new law were backed unanimously.