Call for flying picket case papers review
Renewed calls have been made for the publication of all Government documents linked to the notorious 1970s builders' dispute in Shrewsbury in the wake of the new report on the Hillsborough disaster.
More than 1,000 people have signed a petition set up by actor Ricky Tomlinson calling for the release of papers in the so-called 'flying pickets' trial.
The Royle Family actor was one of 24 people jailed in 1973 for conspiring to intimidate workers during the strike.
The pickets in Shrewsbury were part of a national builders' strike which saw more than 300,000 workers down their tools in 1972.
In April, Mr Tomlinson led a fresh bid to clear his name and that of the other convicted men by presenting new documents to the Criminal Case Review Commission in Birmingham.
Mr Tomlinson has also started an online petition putting pressure on the Government to release all information it holds about the case.
The campaign has now been given fresh impetus in the aftermath of the publication of the new report on Hillsborough last week.
Steve Murphy, general secretary of construction union UCATT, said last week's revelations will help the case of the Shrewsbury campaigners.
Labour MP Tom Watson called on his 90,000 Twitter followers to sign the petition.
The petition says: "We call upon the Government to release all Cabinet minutes, documents, discussion papers, civil service notes, reports and telephone records produced from 1972 to 1976 by Government departments, agencies and prosecuting authorities relating to the strike, the building workers' unions, the arrested pickets, the prosecutions at Mold and Shrewsbury and the subsequent appeals, as well as any other material pertaining to the case that fall outside the above time period."
It adds: "Government files relating to the strike have been withheld from the National Archives even though more than 30 years have passed."
If the petition collects more than 100,000 names the matter will be discussed in the House of Commons.
