Hillsborough Law: UPDATE

Last month, at his first conference as prime minister, Keir Starmer, announced that he vowed to bring in Hillsborough Law, before the next anniversary of the disaster in April 2025.

The announcement came after a decade long campaign by the families, following the 1989 disaster, that killed 97 people and injured many others. Whilst talks of Hillsborough Law are not recent events, it is the first time the Prime Minster has confirmed it will be made be law. It was first introduced into Parliament in March 2017 following Reverand Bishop Jones report into the failings following the disaster.

Hillsborough Law, officially titled, The Public Authority Accountability Bill, will create a legal duty of candour on public authorities and officials to tell the truth and proactively cooperate with official investigations and inquiries. It would also ensure victims of disasters or state-related deaths are entitled to a parity of legal representations during inquests and inquiries as well as a public advocate to represent families.

Speaking at the labour conference in Liverpool he said “For many people in this city, the speech they may remember was the one here, two years ago. Because that was when I promised, on this stage, that if I ever had the privilege to serve our country as prime minister, one of my first acts would be to bring in a Hillsborough law – a duty of candour. A law for Liverpool. A law for the 97. A law that people should never have needed to fight so hard to get. But that will be delivered by this Labour government.