SCOTLAND'S only Conservative Party MP, David Mundell, has been talking to the Chronicle about the impact the Miner's Strike had on communities as part of our look back on that fateful time 25 years ago.

MARCH 1984 will be remembered for a lot of things, but for many it was seen as the beginning of the end for the Conservative Party in Scotland.

Margaret Thatcher's fight with the miners provoked a bloody battle which only ended with the closure of pits and a slow crushing of community spirit. Margaret Thatcher became a hated woman in many circles. And slowly but surely the popularity of the Tories disappeared.

In 1997, the people voted en mass to ensure that only one Conservative MP remained in Scotland. That man is local politician David Mundell. His constituency covers the mining communities of Kelloholm, Kirkconnel and Sanquhar. But he is of the opinion the strike itself didn't do for the Tories in the way many believe.

He said: "The position the Conservative Party found themselves in after the 1997 elections wasn't fully down to the Miners Strike. There were a whole host of things that happened, of which that was one. But it wasn't the only thing so from that point of view it wasn't the pivotal event.

"The Miners Strike is very strongly felt in the mining communities and will be for a long time, but it doesn't necessarily have the same resonance across the wider Scotland." Back in '84, David was still at University, embarking on a degree in medicine. But he was fully aware of the fight that was raging on in some of the biggest mining areas in the country, including the Cumnock and Doon Valley area.

He said: "Everyone knew it was going on, but the longer something goes on the less it is in the public eye. That was one of the facts that led to the return to work.

"Margaret Thatcher didn't want to make the same mistakes she perceived Ted Heath had made in the 70s. And I think the 1984 strike didn't generate the same widespread support, particularly from people outwith the mining communities, that had been evident a decade previously." David's constituency may represent some of the strongest former mining communities - who were very much against Thatcher's plans for the mines - but he says he has great respect for them and a desire to give them the best support and best way of life.

He said: "I have so much respect for mining communities and what they have gone through. The downside many have is the health issues they face because they have worked in the mines. But they have a very strong sense of community.

"I'm very clear that I represent everybody in my constituency. Some communities are not strong Conservative voting areas but I hold numerous surgeries and do my best for the people, whether they vote for me or not." The big question many people ask is whether Mrs Thatcher was right in her standpoint against the striking miners. And David is of the opinion her approach was right.

He added: "I think the government was right not to give in. But 25 years on people forget that strikes were happening all the time. Mrs Thatcher changed that culture and transformed industrial relations and that is the right thing to do.

"Clearly there were lots of individual incidents during the strike which were regrettable from both sides. And the level of police involvement on some occasions was probably too much and additionally the intimidation of people who chose to go back to work was too much. But overall the approach transformed relations to the way they are now."