A review of policing during the miners' strike has been ordered by the Scottish Government.

It will examine the impact on mining communities in Scotland between 1984 and 1985, when workers downed tools in a row over pit closures.

They began at the Polmaise Colliery near Stirling in February and had spread across the country by March.

They went on for a year, with violent clashes on the picket lines and around 500 Scottish miners arrested.

Justice secretary Michael Matheson has appointed solicitor advocate John Scott to lead the review.

"Scotland will lead the way in ensuring the experiences of those affected by the policing of the dispute in the 1980s are properly understood," Mr Matheson said.

"This represented an extremely turbulent and difficult time for many mining communities in Scotland.

"And although more than three decades have passed, the feelings and scars from that time still run deep and there are questions that still need to be answered."

While he said there were constraints about the kind of review Holyrood could establish, Mr Matheson said Mr Scott had agreed to "investigate and report on the impact of policing on affected communities from March 1984 to 1985".

Nicky Wilson, president of the National Union of Mineworkers, has backed the review, which is expected to report back in 2019.

He said: "Rather than a potentially costly and drawn-out public inquiry, we will have a time-limited and focused independent review which I hope will really get to the heart of the injustice experienced by mining communities at that time."

The UK Government has already ruled out an inquiry into violent confrontations between police and striking miners in Orgreave, South Yorkshire, in 1984.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who welcomed the announcement of a Scottish review on Thursday, has urged the UK Government to investigate "brutal clashes between police and miners".

"The convictions of nearly 500 Scottish miners devastated not only their lives, but those of their families too while also scarring pit communities until this day," he said.

"This review must establish if these arrests and convictions were unjust and politically motivated.

He added: "The UK Government must now listen to campaigners and launch an independent inquiry into the brutal clashes between police and miners during the strike in 1984, not least at Orgreave, where so many questions still need to be answered."