Sourced

• We need action not words. For the first time we are facing the prospect of seeing legislation introduced which denies the right of trade unionists to come to the assistance of other unionists and denies the right of trade unionists to seek the support of others in their disputes. There is only one response. Faced with this legislation we should say we will defy the law. It is the only action we can take and it is the only response this movement can give. If there is an attempt to use this legislation then you defy it not as an individual union but as a movement.
  • Speech to the Trades Union Congress at Brighton on the Emplyoment Act 1982 (7 September, 1982).
  • Alan Wood, John Winder and Gordon Wellman, 'Overwhelming vote to defy 'anti-union laws' ', The Times (8 September, 1982), p. 4.

Unsourced

• We want to make it clear that we can no longer tolerate a situation where sponsored MPs oppose official union policy. The miners are entitled by virtue of their sponsorship to tell their MPs which way to vote.
  • Unspecified article, The Daily Telegraph, 26 June 1975

• My father still reads the dictionary everyday. He says your life depends on your power to master words.
  • Unspecified article, The Sunday Times (ambiguous title), 10 January 1982

• The strike...offered a challenge against the heart of the capitalist system...what I am thinking about...is the influence exercised by the strike on British society.
  • Unspecified article, Nepsava (Hungarian newspaper), 14 May 1985

• As far as I can see, the loss is without limit.
  • When asked by a Parliamentary Select Committee on how much of a loss a pit needed to be running at before it was closed