Here in Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley, we are proud of our mining heritage. From Prince of Wales to Kellingley, Fryston to Whitwood, Glasshoughton to Wheldale and more, thousands of local people worked in our collieries, powering the nation for generations. But that strong history means we also feel still the deep scars that the miners strike left across coalfield communities like ours. What happened at Orgreave in June 1984 was one of the darkest days of the strikes, but over 40 years on too many questions are still unanswered. That is why in Labour’s manifesto last year we promised to establish an inquiry to uncover the truth about Orgreave.

Last week we delivered on that promise. As Home Secretary I announced a full, statutory inquiry into the events at Orgreave, and its aftermath. The inquiry will be chaired by the Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Rev Dr Pete Wilcox and should be ready to launch in the autumn. I pay tribute to the National Union of Mineworkers and their General Secretary Chris Kitchen as well as those at the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, who have been campaigning for this for so long. I joined Chris and other campaigners and local MPs at the Orgreave site before the announcement, where we reflected on the long road to this inquiry and the experiences of all those impacted.

Many miners from our towns were there in Orgreave that day. There are so many unanswered questions for the miners, their families, or the wider community – about the policing plans, about the violent clashes, about the fact that 95 miners were arrested and charged and the prosecutions later collapsed because of discredited evidence.

I have pursued some of these questions for many years – trying to get evidence while I was the Home Affairs Select Committee Chair in Parliament nearly ten years ago. But that is why I was so clear that we need a proper inquiry now – learning the lessons from the Hillsborough Panel inquiry more than a decade ago that was chaired by the Bishop of Liverpool and helped uncover the truth about what happened there.

It is also one of the reasons why I have always been such a strong supporter of neighbourhood policing. Neighbourhood policing was cut heavily back under the Conservatives, but as Home Secretary I’ve been determined to bring it back – which is why we now have increased police officers on patrol in Castleford and Pontefract town centres this summer.

Another important step to restoring faith in our mining communities was ending the injustice of the mineworkers’ pension scheme. In our first year in government, Labour returned over £1bn to those who powered our country for generations. Round here it benefits 3000 former miners across the Five Towns, giving them an average uplift of £29 a week.

Many families across the coalfields have a mining history – my grandad was a miner, my dad was a trade union official. Round here we know both the strength of our mining history and also the way things like the pension injustice or the events of Orgreave cast a long shadow.

Previous Conservative Governments never understood that. Labour is righting the wrongs of our industrial past, which the Conservatives ignored.