Reid was highly critical of the UK miners' strike (1984–1985) and its leader Arthur Scargill. In his newspaper column Reid argued that the working miners could not properly be referred to as strikebreakers, as no national ballot had been held and no local ballot had passed a resolution to strike: "A scab is someone who participates in a vote in which the majority are for taking strike action and then refuses to honour the decision. If you are denied the right to vote, it is impossible to be a scab." Reid's attitude led to his coming under strong criticism from many former supporters in the Labour movement, and Mick McGahey described him as "Broken Reid".