The Scottish Secretary has started the Parliamentary process to
allow the Scottish Government to fully enact legislation to
pardon miners prosecuted in Scotland.
Scottish Secretary has laid an Order under Section 104 of
the Scotland Act to allow the Scottish Government to fully enact
Scottish Parliament legislation to pardon individuals
who were prosecuted during the 1984-85 miners'
strike.
The Miner's Strikes (Pardons) (Scotland) Act
2022 automatically pardons people convicted in Scotland of
breach of the peace, breach of bail conditions, or obstructing
the police while taking part in strike action. It took
effect from 27 July 2022.
At the request of the Scottish Government, this Scotland Act
Order would add Section 7 of the Conspiracy and Protection
of Property Act 1875 (now repealed) to the pardoning criteria.
The Scottish Government estimates that this would pardon up to 16
additional individuals. The Scottish Government was unable to
include this offence in the 2022 Act as it falls outside the
legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.
said:
We have reset our relationship with the Scottish Government, and
this is another example of what can be done when we work
together. By enabling this Scottish Parliament legislation, we
are continuing to ensure the devolution settlement works as
intended, in the interests of people across Scotland.
The Order ensures that relevant and equivalent
offences are brought into scope of the
Scottish legislation.
Scotland Act Orders are a mechanism designed to account for
devolved policies in reserved law, to ensure Scottish Government
legislation is able to operate and help maintain the devolution
settlement.
The UK Government may take forward a Scotland Act Order, but it
is not an endorsement of a particular Scottish Government policy.
In this case, there are currently no plans for the UK Government
to extend pardons to miners in England and Wales.
