Published on: 20/07/2025
- Inquiry into violent confrontation at Orgreave on 18 June 1984 to be established this year
- The Rt Revd Dr Pete Wilcox, Bishop of Sheffield, to chair
- Home Secretary visits the site with campaigners on landmark moment
An inquiry into the violent confrontation between police and picketers at Orgreave 41 years ago will be established as the government delivers its manifesto commitment to uncover the truth.
The inquiry, expected to launch in the Autumn, will investigate the events at Orgreave Coking Plant on 18 June 1984, when thousands of picketing miners in South Yorkshire were met by large numbers of police, with the violent clash between them leading to 120 injuries and 95 arrests. The inquiry will be statutory, with the appropriate powers to compel people to provide information where necessary.
The Rt Revd Dr Pete Wilcox, the Bishop of Sheffield, has agreed to chair the inquiry, which is intended to aid the public’s understanding of how the events on the day, and immediately after, came to pass.
The event has left a lasting impact on those present that day and their families, as well as undermining the wider mining community’s confidence in policing for decades.
That is why, as the government looks to rebuild public confidence in policing as part of its Plan for Change, it is delivering on this manifesto commitment to bring to light what happened at Orgreave, with the Home Secretary visiting the site alongside the campaigners who have fought for years for answers.
Bishop Pete said:
“I am extremely grateful to the Home Secretary for the opportunity to chair this inquiry and for the support I shall be given in doing so. I do not underestimate the weight of expectation or the significance of the task.
“I look forward to engaging with stakeholders in the coming weeks over the draft terms of reference, and to working with the government to identify experts to support me on the independent panel.
“I expect the panel to begin its work in the autumn, and we will endeavour to deliver an inquiry which is thorough and fair, and which will uncover what happened at Orgreave as swiftly as possible.”