On 40th anniversary of UK miners’ strike, can Labour win back the north?

It divided communities, split families and changed the face of a nation.

The 1984-85 United Kingdom miner’s strike, which kicked off 40 years ago this week, was an epoch-defining event in the social history of Britain as thousands of coal miners left their pits in protest against Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s drive to close collieries across northern England.

A year-long struggle would lead to the arrest of more than 11,000 miners and would cement Thatcher’s status as a hate figure among trade unionists and supporters of the left.

Five years ago, however, many of these former mining heartlands, once solidly of the Labour left, voted for the right-wing Conservative Party in droves, propelling then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to comprehensive victory in the 2019 British general election.

The so-called “Red Wall” – 45 constituencies in northern England and the English Midlands which had been held by Labour for generations – turned Conservative blue leading to Labour’s worst election result since 1935.

But as Britain braces itself for the likelihood of another general election later this year, the opposition Labour Party is eyeing a return to power. And crucial to its success will be winning back those former mining towns, which, 40 years ago, were at the heart of one of the most acrimonious industrial disputes in British history.

How did the miners’ strike unfold?

On March 6, 1984, the National Coal Board (NCB) announced its intention to close 20 pits which it deemed unprofitable, spelling the loss of some 20,000 jobs. The decision was supported by Thatcher who wanted to break the power of the trade unions and privatise an industry which was heavily subsidised by the government.

About three-quarters of Britain’s 187,000 miners protested after the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), led by firebrand socialist Arthur Scargill, called a general strike on March 12.

But Scargill’s decision not to ballot his members on the issue of industrial action – out of concern that he might lose – meant that the NUM’s stance lacked political legitimacy, say experts.

Picketing miners in England – as well as Scotland and Wales – clashed with police, at times violently, and feuded with non-striking colleagues, many of whom were labelled “scabs” (traitors) and ostracised by their communities as a result.