Families of victims from the Manchester Arena bombing and the Hillsborough disaster will meet Keir Starmer after the remaining Hillsborough Law stages were postponed until next week
A landmark Hillsborough Law to prevent future state cover-ups has been delayed after concerns were raised that intelligence agencies were not included.
Families of victims from the Manchester Arena bombing and the Hillsborough disaster will meet Keir Starmer on Wednesday after the remaining stages of the legislation were postponed until next Monday.
Campaigners warned the PM that the Hillsborough Law, which will criminalise public officials for lying, must include all public services, including MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. They welcomed the slight delay if it means “it is used to fix what is now wrong” with the legislation.
The law comes after a decades-long fight by the families of the 97 Liverpool fans who died in a fatal crush at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield. Grieving relatives spent years battling for justice for their loved ones after police falsely blamed Liverpool supporters for the disaster.
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill will create a legal duty of candour for all public officials, such as police officers, with criminal penalties for lying or withholding information. A new offence for misleading the public will be created – with criminal sanctions for the most serious breaches.
READ MORE: Hillsborough victims ‘will never get justice’ and families ‘very angry’ after police probe
The legislation had been scheduled for its remaining stages in the Commons on Wednesday but Downing Street today confirmed a delay amid concerns the Bill “did not apply to individual employees of the intelligence agencies”.
Caroline Curry, whose 19-year-old son Liam died in the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack, said: “Hillsborough Law must happen in its entirety, it must include every service, no exceptions. MI5, MI6 and GCHQ are as high up the chain as you can get so why would any other service feel they needed to tell the truth when those at the top are exempt? Lead by example is what we’ve always believed.
“We feel our children were just collateral damage and they had been disrespected from start to end, our lives have been forever shattered into a million tiny pieces, pieces too small to even attempt to pick up and put back together. We don’t live a life any longer, we exist, hearts broken beyond repair, minds forever tormented and tortured, always thinking what if and forever hoping it was all a dream and our beautiful children are safely tucked up in bed.
“But that’s not our reality and never will be. To know that this could and should been prevented but for the failures of MI5 is shameful enough, but to then hear Sir John Saunders (chairman of the public inquiry into the bombing) reveal that MI5 hadn’t told the truth in open court was like a kick in the guts, they fudged the truth, blurred the lines to cover up their own incompetence.”
A spokesman for Hillsborough Law Now, which is backed by victims of other injustices including the Grenfell Tower fire and the infected blood scandal, said: “Families have waited long enough for the truth. Time and again, they are promised honesty, only to watch it diluted behind closed doors. This Bill is supposed to change that — not create new ways for powerful institutions to avoid accountability.
“This latest delay is welcome, but only if it is used to fix what is now wrong. Families cannot accept a law that allows the heads of the security services to hide serious failures behind a vague claim of national security. It’s time for the Prime Minister to deliver on the promise he made when he looked the bereaved of Hillsborough in the eye and use this pause to lay down the law to Whitehall and the security services.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Hillsborough law will change the balance of power in Britain and put a legal duty on officials, including those in the intelligence services, to respond openly and honestly when things go wrong.
“Since we introduced the Bill, we’ve worked with the families to make this duty as strong as it can possibly be whilst never compromising on national security. This Government will not bring forward legislation that would put the national security of the UK or lives at risk.
“On Friday, we brought forward a series of amendments to address concerns that the Bill did not apply to individual employees of the intelligence agencies. But we’re determined to get this right.” He said the remaining stages of the Bill have therefore been moved to next week.