FORMER miners convicted unfairly of offences during the 1984-85 strike have been given a pardon by the Scottish Parliament but are still out of pocket and the slate hasn't been wiped.

That's the view of a frustrated Bob Young, who said they still had criminal records and he was "absolutely disgusted" that MSPs had blocked a possible route to compensation.

The former Dunfermline councillor was one of 500 Scottish miners to be convicted of offences during the dispute, with many then sacked, losing their pensions and facing unemployment after being blacklisted.

Bob said: "I'm happy the boys have got the pardon, including myself.

"But I'm absolutely disgusted that the Tories and the SNP banded together to stop us getting compensation.

"If the Scottish Parliament can give the pardon, why is it the UK Government should pay the compensation?

"It's a very spurious argument.

"We were arrested in Scotland by Scottish police, taken to Scottish courts and found guilty in Scottish courts.

"What's it got to do with England? Not a damn thing."

An independent review into the ‘Impact on communities of the policing of the miners’ strike 1984-85’ in Scotland was led by John Scott QC.

It said pardons should be given to former miners but stopped short of recommending that the Scottish Government should pay compensation.

The Miners Strike (Pardons) (Scotland) bill passed into law last week and gives an automatic pardon to those convicted of certain offences – breach of the peace, obstructing a police officer, breach of bail and theft – related to strike action in the 1980s.

Bob said: "The politicians are crowing about what they've done, saying, 'Aren't we great, we've given them a pardon'.

"They don't seem to understand.

"It doesn't mean our convictions have been scrubbed. We've still got criminal records, they've not been wiped clean.

"The only way they can do that is in court and that's not going to happen."

He added: "They're using us as political pawns. The SNP had a go at previous Labour governments for not giving a pardon.

"But nobody could do anything until 2014 when the papers were released by the present UK Government and we could see exactly what was going on during the strike.

"We started the campaign for a pardon and compensation in 2015 so there wasn't a Labour government in power to do anything about it.

"So it's frustrating that line is getting peddled too."

Arrested five times in all, Bob was the only sacked miner in Britain to win his job back.

The former Labour councillor said: "I'm not entitled to compensation as I was fully reinstated. There's no benefit for me, it's for the guys who lost out on thousands of pounds.

"I reckon £10 million would have squared the whole thing.

"At the NUM conference last week, the English and Welsh guys, when we explained what had happened, said: 'What's the bloody point in going through all that?'

"But there were 20 Tory MSPs voting for us to get a pardon so we can use it in our further arguments to get compensation from their colleagues in the UK Government."

He also slammed a suggestion from Christine Grahame MSP that the UK Government should pay compensation out of the £4 billion that was taken out of the miners' pension fund.

Bob fumed: "It'd be like me asking my wife for money so I can pay back what I owe her. It's just nonsense.

"That's OUR money, it's nothing to do with the argument about the guys getting compensation for when they were sacked.

"And the NUM already have a campaign running to get our pension money back."

Politicians on all sides welcomed the pardon but West Fife Villages Labour councillor Graeme Downie called Dunfermline MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville a "disgrace" for, along with SNP, Tory and Green MSPs, opposing a move to provide financial compensation.

She hit back and said compensation issues were still reserved to Westminster and that the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee – of which Labour is a member – had found that implementing such a scheme in Scotland "would create 'significant practical difficulties' that would delay the passage of the pardons bill".

Ms Somerville called on the UK Government to undertake a full public inquiry into the strike, where compensation for miners and their families could be considered.

She added: "What I do find a disgrace is Mr Downie claiming to support former miners across West Fife and then happily voting with his Tory coalition colleagues each week at Fife Council.

"He should reflect on that before carrying out his latest transparent attempt at self-promotion."