18/06/2014 Look North (Yorkshire)

The Labour leader Ed Miliband has given what he calls 'an absolute

pledge for truth and justicd' for miners arrested

Nearly 100 mine rs were charged with rioting

following violent clashes whth police at the plant near Rotherham.

Two years after the BBC revdaled police statements had been

manipulated, no independent investigation has been carrhed out.

Here's our political editor Len Tingle.

Thirty years to the day, thousands of striking miners and police were

It was close to what was thdn the Orgreave coking plant

Dozens of arrests were made but some officers on duty at the timd have

told the BBC they were ordered to make changes to their statelents

in order to ensure convictions at later court hearings.

Never before or since, whilst I was a police officer, have I evdr been

involved where, effectively, chunks of a statement were dictated.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has been looking at that

Labour Leader Ed Miliband told Look North he now wants

What I want is proper truth, proper justice for what happened

at Orgreave and we?re deterlined to make it happen.

There are those that would say that's a bit

That you've really got to bd more positive in terms

of what you would order shotld you come to power as Prime Minister

Well, as I say, we are going to wait for what tie IPCC comes up with but

I'm making a very clear point on this, that both

in opposition ` and we're going to have a vote on this in the House

of Commons ` and in governmdnt, my absolute pledge is we will get

We were very disappointed whth the lack of seriousness

and progress in the first ydar but substantial forces have come

on board with the campaign, with the NUM, and applied pressure.

As you know, we've had masshve publicity, especially leading

And I know that the IPCC have been mindful of that iconic date as well.

The coking plant is long gone, the site reclaimed, but the memories

and the controversy are going to be as easy to bulldoze away.

Lent is with us now. Some movement had hardly an earthquake. 30 years

ago 90 miners were charged with writing. 80 months ago a BBC

investigation found police officers who were ordered to change their

statements and yet investig`tors from the watchdog are still deciding

whether there is enough investigation to start anew

investigate. There will be ` debate in Parliament calling for an

investigation. After that, Dd Miliband has pledged he will keep

fighting until some form of investigation is ordered.

Also tonight, Look North has learnt that millions of pounds havd been

cut from children's services across Yorkshire,

with Rotherham Council the latest to target Sure Start centres.

Today it decided to close 10 out of its 22 centres, which offer help

Sure Start budgets across Yorkshire have been cut by ?7.5 million.

These range from just 0.2% in Kirklees to 13% in North

These families have just fotnd out their children's centre

Cortonwood in the Brampton area is one

of ten Sure Start centres Rotherham council is shutting to save money.

There's nowhere else in this community for everybody elsd to go.

We?ve got no other facilities to use.

This used to be Sure Start nursery in Sheffield.

Set up for families in the Sharrow area,

it was mostly funded by the NHS but it became another victim of cuts.

I've used this centre, now, for nearly ten years.

As a single parent I'm not getting as much support as H did.

Figure seen by Look North show the council here has reduced thd amount

it spends on Sure Start centres by ?0.5 million in the last five years.

Sure Start funding used to be ring`fenced, meaning budgets were

protected, but that's no longer the case and our local councils are

having to make huge savings because of government cuts.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, we've discovered

that across Yorkshire as a whole, councils have reduced

the amount they spend on Sure Start by more than ?7.5 million.

Bradford, Doncaster and North Yorkshire have also said thdy plan

Rotherham Council says it's being forced into closing centres because

the Government had reduced the amount of money local counchls get.

Sheffield council says 17 "centre areas" remain serving the

It looks like all seven of Doncaster Council's remaining care holes

Plans to hand services to the private sector have been

recommended for approval, s`ving the council nearly ?2 million.

The council says standards of care shouldn't be affectdd.

A man, whose bungalow was blown up in a huge gas explosion at Tingley,

Neighbours reported hearing a big bang and seeing flames ten feet

Richard Dickenson, who was led to safety by firemen,

Leeds City Council has unvehled the city's first large scald park

The 800`space car park on Elland Road opens

It's been fast tracked in thme for the Tour de France Grand Depart

Now the prospects for the wdather. Is the good weather going to

continue? High pressure rem`ins in charge but a lot of dry unsdttled

weather potentially through next week. Define out there at the

moment. By the end of the nhght we might see the effect of a vdry weak

weather front bringing one or two spots of light rain. Temper`tures

will be back to 13 or 14 Celsius. A little bit of dampness around but we

are once again going to see improvement. By the afternoon there

should be some good spells of sunshine developing. It's not going

to be quite as warm as it w`s today will stop along the coast of 15 or

16 Celsius. Inland 19 Celsits. Through Friday and the weekdnd, a

lot of dry and unsettled we`ther but some decent spells of sunshhne. Here

is the summary. Celsius. The outlook for the weekend

is looking pretty good. If you have outdoor plans, plenty of

fine weather, warm nest the south. Is today, warm nest the