Hillsborough campaigners have hailed a “momentous” day as a bill to force public officials to tell the truth is finally introduced into parliament.
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill, known more commonly as “Hillsborough Law”, will be tabled on Tuesday, after a nearly decade-long fight to get it on the statute book.
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Crucially, the legislation contains a new professional and legal Duty of Candour – meaning public officials must act with honesty and integrity at all times, or face criminal sanctions.
Concerns that this element would be watered down delayed the bill being introduced by the 36th anniversary of the tragedy in April – a deadline Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer set at the Labour conference in Liverpool last year.
Downing Street said more time was needed to redraft the legislation so it had the support of bereaved family members and survivors, who warned against a “toothless replacement”.
Margaret Aspinall, whose son James was 18 when he died in the Hillsborough disaster, acknowledged the “long journey to get here” but said Sir Keir’s promise was “well worth waiting for”.
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She added: “This campaign wasn’t about just us, it is about the ordinary people of this country, hopefully this law will mean no one will ever have to suffer like we did.”
On 15 April 1989, 97 Liverpool FC fans were killed in a crush during the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium.
It took a 27-year campaign by victims’ families for an inquest jury to rule that the fans were not to blame for the disaster and those who died were unlawfully killed.
In 2016, the first version of Hillsborough Law was drafted, which Sir Keir promised to implement in full while in opposition – a commitment that was included in Labour’s 2024 manifesto.
‘Seismic changes’
The government said Hillsborough Law will “end the culture of cover-ups” and learn lessons from other disasters, including the Grenfell Tower fire, the Post Office Horizon scandal and the infected blood scandal.
It said the bill will include “seismic” changes, including a new offence of misleading the public, with criminal sanctions “for the most serious breaches”.
It will also provide families bereaved by the state with publicly funded legal representation at inquests, which the Ministry of Justice called the “largest expansion of legal aid in a decade”, ending “David and Goliath-style show downs”.
The bill will now be debated and voted on by MPs and Peers before it becomes law, as is the case with any major piece of legislation.
The Hillsborough Now Campaign hailed the “landmark” law but said it will only achieve its aims if it is passed in full.
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‘Don’t weaken the bill now’
“The government will need to be brave and ignore the vested interests that will attempt to water it down as it progresses through parliament,” a spokesperson for the group said.
Elkan Abrahamson, one of the architects of the original bill, said he will scrutinise the legislation as it is debated in parliament “so we’re not quite there yet”.
But added said that “today is still a momentous step, owed entirely to the persistence of campaigners and their refusal to give up”.
“The Hillsborough Law will transform the face of British justice,” he said.
Ahead of the bill’s announcement, campaigners met Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy at the memorial site in Anfield on Monday, as well as metro mayors Steve Rotherham and Andy Burnham, who have long backed the legislation.
Some families and campaigners are expected to attend Downing Street on Tuesday to mark the bill’s introduction. It comes ahead of the Labour Party Conference next week, which is once again being held in Liverpool.
Paying tribute to the “strength and courage” of Ms Aspinall and other campaigners, Sir Keir said the bill will “change the balance of power in Britain” and ensure that the state “can never hide from the people it is supposed to serve”.
He added: “Make no mistake – this a law for the 97, but it is also a law for the sub-postmasters who suffered because of the Horizon scandal, the victims of infected blood, and those who died in the terrible Grenfell Tower fire. This is change only this government can deliver.”
