Lynette HorsburghNorth West
PA
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the British state failed the families and victims of Hillsborough to an almost inhuman level
The “unlawfully killed” Hillsborough disaster victims and their families were failed by the British state, the prime minister has told MPs.
Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to relatives who tirelessly campaigned for the truth about what caused the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans in a terrace crush at an FA Cup semi-final in Sheffield on 15 April 1989.
Campaigners including Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James died in the football disaster, watched from the public gallery in the House of Commons as MPs again debated the Public Office (Accountability) Bill.
The so-called Hillsborough Law would give public officials a duty of candour and to tell the truth in the aftermath of future disasters.
‘Duty of candour’
The new inquests into the disaster in 2016 exposed the fact that there had been no legal obligation for the public authorities involved to cooperate or be transparent.
Sir Keir said: “I want to begin this debate with a simple acknowledgement, long overdue, that the British state failed the families and victims of Hillsborough to an almost inhuman level.
“Those victims and their families, their strength, their courage, their refusal to give up, a determination no matter what was thrown at them to fight for people they’ll never know or meet, to make sure that they never go through something like this again.
“They are the reason we stand here today with this Bill.
“They are the reason why it will be known as the Hillsborough Law, and they are the reason why we say clearly again, what should have been said immediately, that their loved ones were unlawfully killed, and that they never bore any responsibility for what happened in Sheffield that day. We say it at this despatch box today.”
The legal duty of candour means authorities will face criminal sanctions if they attempt to cover up future disasters.
The Hillsborough families spent decades trying to get to the bottom of what happened before and in the early stages of the match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
It will not apply retrospectively – but will be in force, once passed, across the UK.
Private bodies which have won contracts to provide services for publicly funded bodies will also have to follow the law.
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Margaret Aspinall’s 18-year-old son James was one of the 97 football fans fatally injured in the 1989 stadium disaster
Sir Keir told the House of Commons: “We often call Hillsborough a tragedy, but it’s more than a tragedy, because the disaster was not down to chance, it was not an accident.
“It was an injustice, and then further injustice piled on top when the state subjected those families to endure from the police lies and smears against their loved ones while the central state, the government, aided and abetted them for years and years and years.
“A cover-up by the very institutions that are supposed to protect and to serve. It is nothing less than a stain of modern history of this country.”
The prime minister said the disaster cover-up was not a one-off, pointing to the Horizon scandal, Grenfell Tower, the infected blood scandal and grooming gangs.
He added: “We should also be blunt that there’s a pattern common to all these scandals that time and again, the British state struggles to recognise injustice because of who the victims are – because they’re working-class, because they’re black, because they’re women and girls.
“That is the injustice that this Bill seeks to correct.”
‘Careful consideration’
Shadow justice minister Kieran Mullan said the Bill should “provide the necessary legal clarity to underpin its successful operation”.
“We’ve seen too often government decisions that the government considers to be in the public interest challenged repeatedly and often successfully in the courts,” he said.
“How will this Bill be utilised by campaign groups who wish to legally challenge the government in support of what they consider to be in the public interest?
“That’s not to say that we can’t make this Bill work, but we need to consider its terminology carefully.”
Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Jess Brown-Fuller called for the duty of candour to be extended to social media companies.
The Lib Dems also called for the strengthening of whistleblowing protections, including the establishment of an independent office for the whistleblower.
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The Prime Minister said the Hillsborough disaster cover-up was not a one-off, pointing to the Horizon Post Office IT scandal, the Grenfell Tower fire, the infected blood scandal and grooming gangs
