LEIGH MP Andy Burnham has called the Government’s refusal to hold an inquiry into the Battle of Orgreave an ‘establishment stitch-up'.

The violent confrontation between police and pickets at a British Steel Corporation coking plant in Rotherham in 1984 saw 95 miners arrested and 123 people injured.

Following this year's inquest verdict into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, previously censored documents suggesting links between the actions of senior South Yorkshire Police officers at both incidents were published.

This led to renewed calls for a public inquiry to be held into the actions of the police at Orgreave.

But Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced in the House of Commons on Monday that there will be no investigation into the police's actions, saying 'ultimately there were no deaths or wrongful convictions' and 'there is not a sufficient basis to instigate either a statutory inquiry or an independent review'.

Mr Burnham, who supported calls for belated inquiries into both the Hillsborough disaster and the notorious clash between police and miners at Orgreave, attacked Mrs Rudd's decision.

In angry exchanges in the House of Commons, the Greater Manchester Mayor candidate said: “Given that the Independent Police Complaints Commission found evidence of perjury and perversion of the course of justice and in the past month new evidence has emerged from former police officers who were at Orgreave of orchestrated violence and the mass manufacture of police statements, aren’t we right in concluding that the establishment stitch-up that she has just announced is nothing more than a nakedly political act?”

Mrs Rudd said that conclusion is 'entirely wrong' and accused Mr Burnham of politicising the issue.

The Battle of Orgreave was a pivotal event in the 1984 to 1985 miners' strike in the UK.

The people behind the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign and the National Union of Mineworkers are believed to be taking legal advice following Mrs Rudd's decision.

Following the decision Tony Lloyd, interim mayor for Greater Manchester and police and crime commissioner, said: “We police by consent in this country and that consent is underpinned by the confidence and trust of local people.

“An inquiry is absolutely necessary, both to achieve justice for those at Orgreave and their families, and to instill confidence in policing across the UK, not just in South Yorkshire.

“Policing has clearly moved on in this country, but we cannot simply dismiss an inquiry because it concerns events of the past. Especially when the impact of Orgreave can still be felt today.”