Letter: Secrecy on flying pickets case is misplaced
It has been 30 years since 24 people were convicted at Shrewsbury Crown Court following their involvement in a successful picket which led to pay rises for the construction workers they aided.
Their actions both infuriated and intimidated the industry and the Tory Government of the time which led to the monitoring of flying pickets by arms of the state as high as MI5.
In 1973, six of the pickets received custodial sentences despite, as revealed in a letter obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, a lack of evidence to support the charges of violence and intimidation.
The actor Ricky Tomlinson was among those sentenced, receiving two years in prison, and he has been campaigning with fellow supporters of the Shrewsbury 24 ever since.
The campaign group has recently been denied the full disclosure of all the relevant documentation under section 23 of the Freedom of Information Act which allows for documents to be withheld due to a risk to national security.
Transparency creates open justice and is a fundamental democratic principle.
The increasingly opaque and secretive practices of the British judicial system are damaging public confidence in the institution that most requires it.
It is for this reason that this Government must release the documents that so obviously pose no threat to our national security and contain the truth about the Shrewsbury 24.
Andrew Lovatt, Market Drayton
