Keir Starmer is expected to use his final week in office to push the Hillsborough law through its remaining stages in the Commons after months of delays.
This bill aims to strengthen support for families seeking justice after major disasters and create new offences for officials who deliberately mislead the public or seek to block accountability.
The prime minister made the legislation one of Labour’s defining manifesto commitments before entering government. Speaking at the party’s conference in Liverpool in 2024, he promised to introduce legislation before the next anniversary of the Hillsborough stadium disaster – 15 April – saying families should never again have to fight the state to uncover the truth.
But despite the pledge, the bill was delayed after ministers clashed with campaigners over how it should be applied to the intelligence services. The law was due to complete its Commons stages earlier this year but the government postponed it amid concerns from MI5, MI6 and GCHQ over its impact on national security operations and covert officers.
Campaigners and bereaved families had been concerned that the law – officially known as the public office (accountability) bill – would be kicked into the long grass again.
It takes its name from the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, which led to the deaths of 97 Liverpool supporters after a crush at their team’s FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest in Sheffield.
In 2016, nearly 30 years after the disaster, a landmark inquest found that those who died were unlawfully killed – and that the behaviour of Liverpool fans played no part in the tragedy, contrary to the false claims of officers.
The decades-long fight for justice by families exposed repeated failings by public bodies, including South Yorkshire police.
Ministers had proposed changes that would have allowed intelligence chiefs to decide whether information could be disclosed during investigations where national security was at stake. The proposal prompted a backlash from Hillsborough families and Labour MPs who argued it would undermine the central purpose of the law by allowing parts of the state to avoid scrutiny.
The government later dropped the proposed amendment but continued discussions over how sensitive intelligence should be protected while preserving the wider notion of the bill.
Confusion grew once more last week when the deputy prime minister and justice secretary, David Lammy, said in the Commons he was “confident” the draft legislation would be back “in the coming days”. He was responding to Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, who urged the government to pass the law before recess.
But other government figures suggested it would not return until after the summer recess – when Starmer will no longer be prime minister.
Parliamentary business was updated to include the bill’s remaining Commons stages on Tuesday, paving the way for MPs to approve the legislation before it moves to the Lords.
The timing gives Starmer the chance to leave office delivering one of the promises most associated with his premiership. But for Hillsborough families, the legislation’s progress has been marred by months of uncertainty and setbacks.
If the bill clears the Commons this week, it will represent a huge step toward embedding a legal duty across public authorities, an objective campaigners believe will help prevent cover-ups after disasters and major public tragedies.
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