JUSTICE Secretary Michael Matheson has called for “national recognition” of injustice to miners convicted during the 1984-85 strike, signalling that he will also reconsider the SNP's opposition to a Hillsborough-style inquiry.

The minister signalled a possible U-turn as he held the first-ever talks on the issue between the SNP Government and veterans of the bitter year-long dispute over pit closures.

Campaigners said they were now “very hopeful” of a “positive result” for nearly 500 former Scottish miners left with criminal records that they claim were unsafe and politically motivated.

The Sunday Herald spoke exclusively to those who were in the private talks with Matheson, including former miners, senior trade union lawyers, who are taking up the case of the miners, and Labour MSP Neil Findlay.

Matheson was pressed to use his powers to call a Scotland-wide inquiry during the talks at Holyrood, something ministers have repeatedly refused.

However, last night, a spokesperson for the Justice Secretary said: "He has agreed to reflect on the case put forward and to consider next steps.”

Matheson has invited the miners and their representatives back for talks in the New Year, when he will respond to their calls for an inquiry into the policing of the strike in Scotland.

Bruce Shields, a senior partner at trade union law firm Thompsons, said Matheson used the meeting to call for a "national recognition" that miners were treated unjustly.

He said: "He's going to take it away and look at what can be done and the expression (he used) was national recognition.

"They've (the miners) been stigmatised in terms of the use of the criminal law and he understands that after 30 years there's a need for a national recognition that an injustice took place and was allowed to happen."

SNP ministers have claimed it would be inappropriate to order an inquiry into the miners' strike in Scotland and said it was for individuals to lodge their own appeals against convictions Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC).

Matheson failed to commit to holding an inquiry and a policy shift, but Shields said the minister accepted that the treatment of the miners was a historical injustice that had to be rectified. .

Campaigners have claimed the miners’ convictions were unsafe and politically motivated – particularly for picket line offences, for which miners claimed they were threatened with custodial sentences but offered less severe punishments if they accepted bail conditions banning them from picketing.

Documents released under the UK’s 30-year Rule show that senior members of Margaret Thatcher's government including Home Secretary Leon Brittan, Attorney General Sir Michael Havers and the Prime Minister herself drew up plans to intervene in police operational matters and fast-track prosecutions of strikers.

Shields told Matheson that the passage of time meant that lodging individual appeals to the SCCRC would not secure justice for the miners and that a Hillsborough-style inquiry into the dispute would be their only hope.

Shields said: "He (Matheson) made it clear that only a court can quash convictions, but our view is that the SCCRC will not deliver justice. The only way by securing pardons for miners is to have an inquiry into the control direction and accountability of the police and the effect of the use of the criminal law against the miners in Scotland.

"There are a number of options open to him that he wants to go away and consider. There are different modes of inquiry."

Nicky Wilson, president of the UK's National Union of Mineworkers', was arrested during the strike after he was pushed over on a picket line at Ravenscraig, but was cleared in court due to a lack of police corroboration, also met Matheson.

He said: "We know that families and communities were wrong done to by central government using the police against a legitimate strike. We have lost a lot of colleagues who were wrongly convicted, people who were never in trouble in their lives."

Adding: "The police and others in Scotland and throughout the UK were used as a vehicle, under instructions by central government."

Matheson's response was also welcomed by another former miner arrested during the 1984-85 strike and who was part of the talks.

Willie Doolan, 61, from Cardowan colliery, was arrested by what he said was a "police snatch squad" on a picket line during the strike, but like Wilson was later cleared in court due to a lack of police corroboration.

Asked if the response from Matheson was satisfactory, he said: "Oh aye without a doubt it was very encouraging, especially when you look at the position nationally with the way the Tories closed the door on the issue. There's an opportunity in Scotland to outshine them here."

Labour MSP Findlay said that Matheson's response was the most positive to the call for an inquiry since he started raising the issue with Scottish ministers back in 2012.

He said: "I would say that it was a very positive and constructive meeting and we're very grateful for the way in which it was conducted with open discussion."

Adding: "We're encouraged by the meeting and very hopeful that we'll see some progress."