Former HTV journalist speaks out about miners' strike 30 years on

Watch Wales This Week, 'Thirty Years of Hurt' online here

It was an extraordinary twelve months - a dispute which marked the beginning of the end for an industry which had been at the heart of Welsh pride and culture for well over a century. Sparked by the economics of coal mining, it became a fight about union power which led to bitter divisions in South Wales colliery communities which last to this day.

In the autumn of 1984, the conciliation service ACAS attempted to break the deadlock between the NUM and the Government. HTV’s former industrial correspondent Paul Starling had excellent contacts with both sides - and ACAS itself. In tonight’s Wales this Week he reveals how the late head of ACAS, Pat Lowry, had told him the conciliation team had been amazed the NUM didn’t take the chance to end the strike at that time.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, ACAS, told us they do not comment on confidential discussions, even in historic cases. It confirmed that ACAS had come up with a proposal. Mr Lowry had said at the time the National Coal Board accepted the compromise but the NUM rejected it. Despite numerous attempts to contact him, Arthur Scargill has not commented on Paul Starling’s claims. His widely publicised view was that any compromise would only lead to mass pit closures.

Government documents declassified in January this year supported Arthur Scargill’s claim that there was, indeed, a plan to shut 75 mines over three years.

Watch Wales This Week, 'Thirty Years of Hurt' online** here**