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Why did the Miners' Strike fail?
- The media were against the strike. Newspapers
like the Sun and the Daily Mail did not support the
strike. The Sun had a headline called 'Mine Fuhrer'
portraying Scargill as a dictator.
- The government were really well prepared.
They stockpiled coal. This meant the miners
strike did not lead to a coal shortage. This
meant the strike had less impact. The
government used police from all over the
country so that local police were not
sympathising with strikers.
- Margret Thatcher was a strong leader. She was determined to
not allow the miners to win. She portrayed the miners as
enemies and called them the 'mob'
- The NUM did not hold a national ballot. This stopped other trade unions supporting
the strike. It made the strike illegal which meant the government portrayed the strike
as a violent threat to the rule of law.
- The Miners used violent tactics. This put people off supporting the strike. For
example, a taxi drier was killed when striking miners dropped a concrete block
on his taxi. There was a lot of violence at the Battle of Orgreave.
- The NUM ran out of money. The NUM had to pay a fine of £5 million in
September 1984. This was because a law court judged the strike was illegal.
This meant the NUM could not continue to support striking miners. The miners
became poor and ad to return to work. The government also refused to pay
state benefits to striking miners.
- Arthur Scargill was unpopular. Scargill did not
hold a national ballot. The way he acted during
the strike was seen as being unreasonable.
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