Hillsborough Law will include duty of candour on public officials

A long-awaited “Hillsborough Law” bill will force public officials to tell the truth during investigations into major disasters.

The news has been welcomed by campaigners, who had feared the legislation was going to be watered down.

The landmark Public Office (Accountability) Bill will force public bodies to cooperate with investigations into major disasters or potentially face criminal sanctions, as well as provide legal funding to those affected by state-related disasters.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who had previously pledged to bring in the law by the 36th anniversary of the 1989 disaster, said he was “humbled” by what the families had achieved.

“Thank you to the families and campaigners that for years and years and years never gave up on fighting for justice and truth and their determination to deliver a Hillsborough Law is why we’re here today,” he said.

Sir Keir continued: “Today is an important day having known the families for 10 years and it is humbling to see what they have achieved after an unimaginable loss.”

He said he had wanted the bill to be introduced earlier but: “In the end I decided it was better to get it right and I’ve discussed it with the families here today and I do think it is right to have got the law into place that they are welcoming of it.

“And they know it will serve thousands upon thousands of people they will never meet, who will not have to go through what they have gone through.

“The extra work we’ve done has allowed us to get it right.”

He added: “We are not going to allow it to be watered down – I’ve made that commitment to the families as soon as possible to make sure no one suffers injustice.”

The bill will be introduced to Parliament on Tuesday to begin its journey towards becoming law.

The government has confirmed a new professional and legal “duty of candour” will be part of the bill, meaning public officials would have to act with honesty and integrity at all times and would face criminal sanctions if they breached it.

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

The disaster, during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the football ground in Sheffield on 15 April 1989, led to the deaths of 97 football fans.

The government said the new legislation would “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.

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 would change “the balance of power in Britain” to ensure the state could “never hide from the people it is supposed to serve”.

“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,” he said.

Charlotte Hennessy, whose 29-year-old father Jimmy died at Hillsborough, said the campaign for the law had been “really tough”.

“It has taken a lot of negotiation, blood, sweat and tears, late nights, meetings after meetings, reading a draft and saying ‘no’,” she said.

“The duty of candour was the biggest barrier we had – it’s important to note current laws such as perjury only apply to criminal cases.”

Ms Hennessy said her family only became aware of exactly what happened to her father – a plasterer from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire – after the Hillsborough Independent Panel report.

“I didn’t know the truth of what happened to my dad until 25 years later. When people say ‘are they still going on about it?’ – I’ve only known the truth for 13 of the last 36 years.”

One of the bill’s architects, Elkan Abrahamson of law firm Broudie Jackson Canter, said there was still some way to go before it became law.

“We will now scrutinise the bill as it makes its passage through parliament, so we’re not quite there yet,” he said.

“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.”