The inquiry will investigate the events surrounding clashes at the Orgreave Coking Plant in South Yorkshire on June 18 1984 (PA)<\/p>\n
The Government has been accused of prioritising the Orgreave miners over \u201cthe minors who suffered horrific exploitation at the hands of grooming gangs\u201d.<\/p>\n
Shadow policing minister Matt Vickers told the Commons that \u201cthis Labour Government\u2019s union paymasters should not determine the pecking order of justice in this country\u201d.<\/p>\n
His comments, which policing minister Dame Diana Johnson branded \u201cextremely distasteful\u201d, came after a public inquiry was announced this week into the violent confrontation at Orgreave during the miners\u2019 strike in 1984.<\/p>\n
The Government has prioritised the miners over the minors who suffered horrific exploitation at the hands of rape gangsShadow policing minister Matt Vickers<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The inquiry, expected to launch in the autumn, will investigate the events surrounding clashes at the Orgreave Coking Plant in South Yorkshire on June 18 1984, which caused 120 injuries.<\/p>\n
In total, 95 picketers were arrested and initially charged with riot and violent disorder, but all charges were later dropped after evidence was discredited.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, last month the Government announced that there will be a full statutory inquiry into grooming gangs, after initially dismissing calls for one.<\/p>\n
Responding to the Orgreave inquiry announcement, Tory frontbencher Mr Vickers said: \u201cI note from the Government\u2019s publication that the inquiry will be statutory, with powers to compel individuals to provide information where necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis sounds remarkably similar to a request we\u2019ve made to the Government, one which was repeatedly rejected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe victims and survivors of rape gangs deserve detailed updates on the progress of that inquiry, yet the lack of information about how this new inquiry will be set up and how it will compel evidence leads me to conclude that the Government has prioritised the miners over the minors who suffered horrific exploitation at the hands of rape gangs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Labour Government\u2019s union paymasters should not determine the pecking order of justice in this country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are still perpetrators of child sexual exploitation and those who have covered it up who have gone unpunished.<\/p>\n
I must say to him that I found his comments extremely distasteful and also not accurate or correctDame Diana Johnson, policing minister<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cAnd yet this Government has chosen to prioritise this inquiry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Vickers also claimed there are \u201cserious questions\u201d about whether the chairman of the inquiry \u2013 the Rt Rev Dr Pete Wilcock, the Bishop of Sheffield \u2013 will be able to \u201cact in a politically neutral and independent manner\u201d.<\/p>\n
He asked: \u201cCan the minister assure the House that the inquiry will not be political in nature and that it will listen to the views of all parties present on the day, so that this is not merely an example of the Government putting the interests of the unions ahead of the police?\u201d<\/p>\n
Responding, Dame Diana said she was \u201csurprised\u201d by these remarks because \u201cI know the shadow minister is a good man\u201d.<\/p>\n
But she added: \u201cI must say to him that I found his comments extremely distasteful and also not accurate or correct.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dame Diana told MPs: \u201cOur manifesto commitment was to ensure that there was a thorough investigation or inquiry, that the truth about the events at Orgreave came to light, and that is what we are doing today.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cHe will know that there has been a great deal of work to make sure that the hideous, appalling situations that have been uncovered around the grooming gangs are now going to be dealt with.<\/p>\n
I’m absolutely clear that this Government is dealing with grooming gangs and that that is absolutely the right thing to do but, equally, it’s absolutely the right thing to do to set the Orgreave inquiry up todayDame Diana Johnson, policing minister<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cThe safeguarding minister has given statements to the House. The Home Secretary has given statements to the House.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been a clear list of the action that is being taken, and it seems to me that that work is absolutely right.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd of course, under the previous government, when the independent child abuse inquiry was set up, there was support across the House for that work of Professor Alexis Jay.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a great pity that the previous government did not actually enact any of the recommendations that Professor Alexis Jay came forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think that is a hugely shameful state of affairs that this Government then inherited.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m absolutely clear that this Government is dealing with grooming gangs and that that is absolutely the right thing to do but, equally, it\u2019s absolutely the right thing to do to set the Orgreave inquiry up today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Addressing the issue of the chairman of the inquiry, the minister said: \u201cI was really disappointed again with the remarks about the bishop.<\/p>\n
He certainly didn’t show any favour for either the police or the picketers when calling for that inquiryDame Diana Johnson, policing minister<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cI think Bishop Pete has previously supported calls for an inquiry and I think it\u2019s important to note that that was in the context of his pastoral role in supporting members of the Diocese of Sheffield, who were impacted by the events at Orgreave.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he certainly didn\u2019t show any favour for either the police or the picketers when calling for that inquiry.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I don\u2019t think that that call detracts from the necessary credibility, the impartiality and independence that I believe that he will bring to this role as the chair of the inquiry, and I know that he has the backing and the support of the key stakeholders for taking forward that role.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dame Diana said she wanted the inquiry to be done \u201cas quickly as possible, but as thoroughly as possible\u201d, adding that a time frame of two years was indicated in early discussions.<\/p>\n
This came in response to Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North), who asked for an \u201cidea of roughly how long she expects the inquiry to report\u201d.<\/p>\n
The minister added that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has written to all police forces, the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council, the College of Policing and all Government departments to ask that all material they hold relating to the events of Orgreave be retained.<\/p>\n
DUP MP Jim Shannon raised concerns about the \u201cretraumatisation\u201d that elderly retired police officers will \u201cundoubtedly suffer\u201d when asked to recall details of that day in 1984.<\/p>\n
Dame Diana said the Bishop of Sheffield will look into what support needs to be in place to help witnesses, whether they be from the police, picketers or their families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The inquiry will investigate the events surrounding clashes at the Orgreave Coking Plant in South Yorkshire on June…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,1620,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-286880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-sheffield","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114906079259367946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}