Holyrood MSPs were right to back the general principles of a new Bill to pardon miners convicted during the 80s strikes.
Miners were treated appallingly by Margaret Thatcher’s government and ended up losing more than an industrial dispute.
Many lost their jobs and were blacklisted after being unfairly prosecuted for breach of the peace and other offences.
Communities were destroyed and the bitterness felt by pit workers and their families remains to this day.
But while a symbolic pardon of the sort proposed by the Scottish Government is welcome, it is not enough.
If the state accepts that miners were treated badly, logically it follows there should be financial redress.
Former Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: “To those MSPs who are havering about this issue, the question you must ask yourself in the coming weeks is, ‘If not now, when?’”
So, it was disappointing to hear claims about why the Scottish Parliament could not offer compensation as part of the pardon scheme.
Some MSPs suggested the key issues are reserved to Westminster and are
ultimately a matter for the UK
Government.
This sounds like nonsense.
Miners were arrested by Scottish police forces, prosecuted by Scottish fiscals and sentenced in Scottish courts.
Justice, therefore, can be dispensed by the parliament responsible for criminal law in Scotland.
The Scottish Government should stop making excuses and start exploring a compensation package that delivers a fair deal for miners.
We’re no Fools
This is an April Fool’s Day that will find few people in Scotland laughing.
Energy bills will increase substantially for every household after the long-feared price cap removal finally takes effect.
Despite warnings from charities, opposition politicians and unions,
Boris Johnson has still chosen to make mugs of us on April 1.
His government is the one with powers to regulate the energy market.
Johnson and his increasingly embattled Chancellor Rishi Sunak could have imposed a one-off windfall tax on big oil firms like BP and Shell. These companies are making profits previously unthinkable in the modern era.
Instead, Sunak chose to use his Spring budget statement to protect the incomes of his wealthy pals.
The reality is these wealthy Tory ministers have no idea what life is really like for most households.
Some may have been hoodwinked by their claims to stand up for families.
But we know different.
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