HC Deb 19 July 1984 vol 64 cc504-6
12. Mr. Yeo

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers have suffered serious injury while on duty in connection with the miners' strike since he last answered oral questions.

Mr. Brittan

Of 100 police officers injured between 20 June and 17 July, four of the injuries are recorded as being serious.

Mr. Yeo

Will my right hon. and learned Friend join me in paying tribute to the courage and commitment of police officers who are serving on special duties in connection with the miners' strike? Does he share the growing sense of public outrage that police officers, whose real work should be the prevention and detection of crime, are being put in the front line and receiving violence from politically motivated pickets who are in the pay of Mr. Arthur Scargill?

Mr. Brittan

I welcome the opportunity to reaffirm my highest regard for the work that the police are doing in this respect. I also welcome the opportunity to repeat that we do not want this to go on for one moment longer than is necessary and that we deeply regret that persistent and organised violence by those who are running the strike has necessitated such a police presence and response.

Mr. Hardy

Although I regret any injury to police officers and hope that no further injuries will be experienced, does the Home Secretary agree that other people who are involved in the miners' strike have suffered injury or have had unsatisfactory experiences in circumstances that arouse deep concern? In view of that and the need to ensure that relations between the police and the public in the coalfields are satisfactory once again in the future, does he agree that there should be an independent and impartial inquiry into law and order in the dispute?

Mr. Brittan

I do not accept that. I should accept without hesitation that, if the number of pickets of each place of work were reduced to the six that the National Union of Mineworkers recommended, policemen would not have been injured and nor would anyone else.

Mr. Favell

Is my right hon. and learned Friend aware that, of the four pits in the Bolsover constituency, three are now working, thanks to excellent policing? Is he able to assure miners at the fourth—the Whitwell colliery—that they will benefit similarly if they wish to return to work?

Mr. Brittan

The job of the police is to ensure that anyone who wants to work is able to do so and is not prevented from working by bullying or violence. They will continue to do that job everywhere.

Mr. Barron

Will the Home Secretary be a little more specific? How many police officers were injured at the Orgreave coking plant in my constituency on 18 June? How many miners were injured when they were brutally attacked by some of those police officers?

Mr. Brittan

I do not have information about miners' injuries, as they are under no obligation to report them to me or anyone else. As to the hon. Gentleman's implied allegation about police conduct, he is entitled to make a complaint under section 49 of the Police Act 1976. No doubt he will do so, in which event it will be considered properly.

Mr. Mark Carlisle

Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that one of the disturbing facts is that although a great many people have been charged with offences arising out of the miners' dispute, including offences involving violence, very few cases have been decided by the courts? Does he agree that justice must be seen to be done, and that it must be seen to be done as soon as possible and not several months after the event?

Mr. Brittan

I agree with my right hon. and learned Friend that it is desirable that cases be brought to court as soon as possible. Delays in bringing people who are charged with criminal offences to trial are always a matter of concern. My right hon. and noble Friend the Lord Chancellor and I are ready to consider what assistance or advice might be given to any court that finds it has an exceptionally heavy load of cases. I know that my right hon. and noble Friend the Lord Chancellor is prepared to meet requests from the courts for the assistance of stipendiary magistrates.

Mr. Kaufman

the Opposition greatly regret and sympathise with the police who have been injured on the picket line, just as we sympathise with all others who have been injured there, including relatives of the two miners who have died on the picket line. In view of the many allegations about police action on the picket line that are coming forward, is the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware, first, that a public inquiry into what is taking place on the picket lines and into police activity is now essential? Secondly, is he aware that the best way of bringing these incidents to an end is for the strike, which has been deliberately provoked by the Government, to be settled by the Prime Minister?

Mr. Brittan

As the right hon. Gentleman knows perfectly well that complaints made against the police have not yet been determined, I cannot see how he can possibly say that there is a case for a public inquiry without knowing the results of the ordinary constabulary procedure.

In relation to the right hon. Gentleman's more general allegation, he might like to consider the point that I put to his hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth (Mr. Hardy). Does he not agree that if the original NUM guidelines for six pickets at any workplace were adhered to, there would be no police, no injuries arid no complaints?