{"id":9930,"date":"2016-09-20T15:27:56","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T14:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=9930"},"modified":"2016-09-20T15:27:56","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T14:27:56","slug":"no-cost-limit-on-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=9930","title":{"rendered":"‘No cost limit on justice’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Just last week a full public inquiry into violent policing of striking miners at Orgreave in 1984 looked to be just on the horizon \u00e2\u20ac\u201c unconfirmed reports said that home secretary Amber Rudd had given the go-ahead to a comprehensive investigation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The news<\/a> came after Rudd met a large delegation<\/a> from the Ogreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) last Tuesday (September 13), joined by Labour MPs Andy Burnham, Jeremy Corbyn and Dennis Skinner (pictured) among others. After the meeting, campaigners said they were \u00e2\u20ac\u0098quietly confident\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But it was widely reported<\/a> on Sunday (September 18) that a full public inquiry had in fact been \u00e2\u20ac\u0098ruled out\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One Whitehall source was reported as saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAn inquiry like Hillsborough could take a very long time and be unwieldy in terms of cost. There is no appetite for that.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But Unite organiser and OTJC chairperson Joe Rollin has dismissed these unofficial reports as \u00e2\u20ac\u015bjust leaks, rumours \u00e2\u20ac\u201c nothing has been confirmed.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMuch of what was reported in the press on Sunday was inaccurate anyway,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey kept referring to a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098full Hillsborough-style public inquiry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, but in the case of Hillsborough, there was never a full public inquiry in the first place. It was an independent panel followed by fresh inquests ordered by the Attorney General.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Responding to the comment from the unnamed government source about the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bunwieldy cost\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of a potential inquiry, Rollin noted that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) had already undertaken two years of work investigating what happened at Orgreave, so much of the cost has already been shouldered by this work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf there is no thorough inquiry, then all of this money will have been a total waste,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he argued. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat we would also say is that there really should be no cost limit on justice.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is especially the case, Rollin noted, considering that the South Yorkshire Police has historically been implicated in so many instances of abuse of power and reckless negligence, such as in Hillsborough and also more recently in the Rotherham child abuse scandal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese have all involved the South Yorkshire Police and if you look back, it all starts with Orgreave,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo the pursuit of justice in a wider sense all hinges on an investigation into what happened at Orgreave. This is much bigger than simply establishing what happened on that day in June more than thirty years ago.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rollin condemned the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnasty stuff\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 being spouted off by people such as Lord Tebbit who just days ago smeared striking miners brutally beaten by police at Orgreave as \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba bunch of hoodlums\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese comments and reports are coming from people from the past who were potentially complicit in what happened,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fresh approach<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Indeed, Lord Tebbit was one of then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s closest advisers and played an instrumental role<\/a> in the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ruthless targetting of trade unions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s needed now is a fresh approach,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Rollin argued.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He emphasised that the meeting the OTJC delegation had with home secretary Rudd last Tuesday was a very positive one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat we have had confirmed so far is not if<\/em> an inquiry into Orgreave will take place \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this is already a given \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but only what form it will take,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Rollin said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat we ask now is that the campaign be fully involved in forthcoming discussions to ensure that the type of inquiry is a suitable one that gets to the bottom of what happened at Orgreave.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So if this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reports are only unconfirmed rumour, what do we know so far with certainty about a future inquiry?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rollin said that Rudd confirmed she will make an announcement on the matter by the end of the October.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs we await this announcement, we remain extremely hopeful,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is no doubt that an Orgreave inquiry will happen at this point \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the government is simply under too much pressure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Labour party has called for an inquiry, and so have all the trade unions and beyond \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the IPCC wants an inquiry, the South Yorkshire Police chief said he welcomes an inquiry, and so has the South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the list goes on.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no turning back now.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The OTJC is set to host a Justice Conference on Saturday, October 1 in Sheffield. Find out more here.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just last week a full public inquiry into violent policing of striking miners at Orgreave in 1984 looked to be just on the horizon \u00e2\u20ac\u201c unconfirmed reports said that home secretary Amber Rudd had given the go-ahead to a comprehensive investigation.   The news came after Rudd met a large delegation from the Ogreave Truth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[515,453],"wps_subtitle":"Orgreave campaign dismisses latest inquiry leaks","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9930"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9932,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9930\/revisions\/9932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}