Campaigners hail Hillsborough Law but warn it must not be watered down

The long-awaited introduction of a so-called Hillsborough Law has been hailed as a victory by campaigners who warned it must not be watered down.

The Public Office (Accountability) Bill will be introduced to Parliament on Tuesday to begin the journey towards becoming law.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had previously pledged to bring in the law by the 36th anniversary of the tragedy, which was on April 15, but Downing Street then said more time was needed to redraft it.

Some campaigners had raised fears the Bill’s contents had been diluted and would not include a legal duty of candour.

But the Government has confirmed a new professional and legal duty of candour will be part of the Bill, meaning public officials must act with honesty and integrity at all times and could face criminal sanctions if they breach it.

Margaret Aspinall, whose son James, 18, died at Hillsborough, said she is hopeful the new law “will mean no one will ever have to suffer like we did”.

The disaster in 1989 led to the deaths of 97 football fans during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the football ground in Sheffield.

The Government said the new legislation will “end the culture of cover-ups” and learn lessons from wider disasters including the Grenfell Tower fire and the Post Office Horizon and infected blood scandals.

A spokesperson for the Hillsborough Law Now campaign warned the Bill must not be weakened during its passage through Parliament and called on the Government to “be brave and ignore the vested interests” of those who might attempt to water it down.

They said: “This landmark Bill, introduced today, if passed and implemented in full, will lead to massive cultural change and prevent the cover-ups and institutional defensiveness that have pervaded across so many disasters and scandals.

“It is only the full implementation of this Bill that will achieve that and the Government will need to be brave and ignore the vested interests that will attempt to water it down as it progresses through Parliament.”

Some families and campaigners are expected to attend Downing Street on Tuesday to mark the Bill’s introduction.

Ms Aspinall said: “It’s been a long journey to get here. I am so grateful to the Prime Minister for fulfilling his promise to me.”

Sir Keir praised Ms Aspinall’s “courage and the strength of all the Hillsborough families and survivors” in their long campaign for justice.

He said the new legislation can change “the balance of power in Britain” to ensure 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 subpostmasters 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.”

One of the Bill’s architects, Elkan Abrahamson of law firm Broudie Jackson Canter, said there is still some way to go before the Bill becomes law.

He said: “We will now scrutinise the Bill as it makes its passage through Parliament, so we’re not quite there yet.

“But 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.”

Sue Roberts, whose brother Graham was unlawfully killed at Hillsborough, described the Bill’s introduction as “a huge step in the right direction” but said the families will be “watching closely to ensure this Bill is passed in its entirety and enacted in full”.

She added: “The Government must resist any pressure from those who don’t believe the public deserves to know the truth about when the state fails.”

Among what the Government has described as the “seismic changes” as part of the Bill are the biggest expansion of legal aid in a decade for bereaved families, with non-means tested help and support for inquests.

This was welcomed by Julia Waters, sister of headteacher Ruth Perry who took her own life after an Ofsted report downgraded her school.

Ms Waters said her family had been denied legal aid for the inquest, meaning they were “forced to crowdfund to cover our legal costs at an already emotional and stressful time – simply to be heard and to try to uncover the truth”, something she said felt “profoundly unjust” when the public bodies involved had their legal costs covered.

She said: “Hillsborough Law will help ensure families like mine are no longer left to fight for truth and accountability on our own – in the hope that those in power can finally be held responsible when things go catastrophically wrong.”

There will also be a new offence for misleading the public, which the Government said will mean criminal sanctions for the most serious breaches.

Natasha Elcock, from Grenfell United, said: “It has been so easy for public and private agencies to escape accountability and scrutiny. By establishing a duty of candour, Hillsborough Law will prevent this, help us learn from failures and ensure bereaved and survivors are properly supported.”

Lobby Akinnola, who lost his father, Femi, early on in the Covid pandemic, said he and others had seen “first-hand how easily the truth is delayed, diluted or denied”, adding that this new Bill is “a huge step towards” justice.

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