Orgreave records 'should not be going missing or destroyed' says minister
An inquiry, due to be launched this autumn, will investigate the events surrounding clashes at the coking plant in South Yorkshire in 1984
Police records relating to one of the most violent confrontations of the 1984 miners' strike "should not be going missing or being destroyed", a Home Office minister has said.
Lord Hanson of Flint made his comments after Northumbria Police confirmed earlier this year it had in April 2024 disposed of two boxes of documents connected to the brutal industrial dispute, including information about the so-called Battle of Orgreave.
An inquiry, due to be launched this autumn, will investigate the events surrounding clashes at the coking plant in South Yorkshire on June 18 1984, which left 120 injured.
In total, 95 picketers were arrested and initially charged with riot and violent disorder, but all charges were later dropped after evidence was discredited.
The probe, led by the Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Rev Dr Peter Wilcox, who had called for a review of the notorious incident, will be statutory and so have the power to compel people to provide information where required.
The Labour administration had pledged in its election manifesto to ensure "that the truth about the events at Orgreave comes to light".
Campaigners had long called for an inquiry into the police tactics at the time, claiming that striking miners were assaulted and falsely arrested.
Pressed in Parliament over the destruction of papers by the Northumbria force, which said it was acting in line with data protection rules, Lord Hanson said: "There is for the first time an inquiry into Orgreave, which is ongoing and which this Government established, chaired by the Bishop of Sheffield.
"He has terms of reference to look at all matters relating to Orgreave.
"I do not want to pre-empt any discussions or any judgments that he may make but, self-evidently, from my perspective, if papers are available then they should be available to the inquiry and should not be going missing or being destroyed."
Earlier, the minister told peers: "It is very important that the police properly retain records, balancing the public interest of archiving with keeping people's data only for as long as necessary and proportionate."
He pointed out the College of Policing had introduced a code of practice on record keeping by forces in 2023, in response to the inquiry into the Hillsborough disaster that led to a major police cover-up.