Policing of the miners' strike 1984-1985 - impact on communities: independent review

Foreword

I wish to record my appreciation to my colleagues on the Review Group – Kate Thomson, Dennis Canavan and Jim Murdoch. Each has given a considerable amount of time to our work, including time when they were supposed to be on holiday. The review took us a little longer than originally planned and this has involved additional commitment from each which was given without a murmur.

I am grateful also to the Scottish Government officials who provided our support as the review's secretariat, assisting with, and attending, most of our meetings and offering all the administrative back-up we needed for the Call for Evidence, analysis of responses and obtaining evidence from public records in Edinburgh and London.

Crucial also to our work was the assistance of the following: Nicky Wilson, President of the National Union of Mineworkers in Scotland ("NUM Scotland"), Jim McBrierty of the Retired Police Officers Association Scotland, Tom Wood and Graham Bennet, retired Deputy Chief Constables of Lothian and Borders and Fife respectively. I am extremely grateful to them for their contribution over the period of the review.

Dr Jim Phillips has been of invaluable assistance to us throughout the period of the review. We have looked at some of his published work on the Strike and met with him during the review period. In addition, he helped by subjecting a later draft to a deep proof-read for which I am also grateful.

While our work has been collegiate throughout and each of my colleagues has contributed greatly during the drafting process, I accept responsibility for any errors in the terms of this report which have been overlooked.

John Scott QC Solicitor Advocate
30 September 2019